Escaping human society is one thing, human nature quite another in “The Decline.” The Canadian thriller, available exclusively through Netflix, offers a modicum of timeliness for U.S. viewers who’ve coped with the coronavirus crisis by patronizing gun stores en masse:
A first feature for director Patrice Laliberté and several of his principal collaborators, “The Decline” is lean, credible and well-crafted, even if it never quite makes the leap from efficient suspense machine to something more memorable. Enthusiasm in the States may be tempered by the fact that Netflix’s default English dubbing (several soundtrack languages are available) tends to render the dialogue stilted and unconvincing. For those who can handle subtitles, the film definitely plays better in the original French, minus any slight disconnect between the actors’ lips and words.
The prologue is a red herring: In the middle of the night, Montreal suburbanite Antoine (Guillaume Laurin) packs...
A first feature for director Patrice Laliberté and several of his principal collaborators, “The Decline” is lean, credible and well-crafted, even if it never quite makes the leap from efficient suspense machine to something more memorable. Enthusiasm in the States may be tempered by the fact that Netflix’s default English dubbing (several soundtrack languages are available) tends to render the dialogue stilted and unconvincing. For those who can handle subtitles, the film definitely plays better in the original French, minus any slight disconnect between the actors’ lips and words.
The prologue is a red herring: In the middle of the night, Montreal suburbanite Antoine (Guillaume Laurin) packs...
- 3/27/2020
- by Dennis Harvey
- Variety Film + TV
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