Un Flic (1972) - Jean-Pierre Melville

Simon, a master criminal, precisely executes heists and other criminal acts along with his three crew members.  Highly intelligent, Simon has little respect for the law, knowing he has always been a step ahead of them at every turn.  On their most recent job, a bank robbery, Simon has everything planned down to the second, even capable of working on the fly when one of his crew is wounded during the robbery.  The men escape with ease, stashing the wounded man at a clinic in an effort to hide him from the authorities.  Coleman, an exceptional police detective, can't see the crook who exists right under his nose, his friend Simon.  Assigned to investigate the recent robbery, Coleman begins to put the pieces together.  Jean-Pierre Melville's Un Flic is an exceptionally well-crafted detective thriller that's thoroughly engaging and dramatically resonant.  This is the story of tow men on opposite sides of the law, each of which is an expert at what they do.  While these two men are friends, they rarely share any screen time together, as Melville instead opts to bounce back and forth between the two characters, crafting a thrilling cat and mouse game between the two skilled men.  Being men who consider themselves friends, Melville deconstructs masculine camaraderie, arguing that men are only stimulated by ambiguity and derision.   Un Flic could be my personal favorite of Melville's films from a style perspective, with each frame dripping with dramatic and/or emotional weight.  With this film, Melville shows such a great understanding of timing, holding onto certain shots longer than would be typical, getting more emotional impact.  The opening sequence of Un Flic is remarkable, with incredibly detailed cinematography and editing that perfectly mirror Simon's attention to detail when planning his jobs.  Jean-Pierre Melville's Un Flic is an intelligent story of two men on opposite sides of the law, making it another film of Melville's that should be seen.

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