Athena

The film opens on a single unbroken take of twelve minutes. It starts at a police press conference: a local boy has been killed. The camera then goes out into the street and follows, without a cut, the beginning of the riot, the storming of a police station and the crowd's return to the estate. The sequence ends with the violence against the police freezing into a tableau. Romain Gavras directed, co-writing with Ladj Ly and Elias Belkeddar. Ly is the best-known name in contemporary French banlieue cinema. The story rests on three brothers. One is in the army, one deals drugs, one is organising the uprising, and the murdered boy was brother to all of them. The film does not unite them; it positions them against each other on the same estate and builds the plot on the shape of ancient tragedy. It competed at Venice and went out on Netflix on 23 September 2022. Who it is for: viewers who prioritise formal power, choreography and long-take technique. Who it is not for: anyone wanting political analysis. The film shoots violence superbly but stays on the surface of its causes, and its final act is contested.