Now do you understand everything I've said? Because if you don't, I'll kill ya

Author: Popcorn-28
12 December 1999

I've avoided this movie for sometime now. Firstly because friends told me that it was 'Pulp Fiction'-ish (and boy do I hate that movie). Secondly, because its British and although I'm from South East London myself and love British television comedies, I have rarely found British humour well translated onto the big screen. Normally it is toned down to plain slap-stick goofy uncomplicated Inspector Cleuseau type humour tailored for American audiences.

But to find not just British, but straight-faced East London cockney-slang and swear filled humour in a really stylish movie was a revelation.I have always believed that British humor, especially East London humor is much more sophisicated than American humour. Maybe the reason why American audiences have been more forthcoming with LS&2SB is that despite the accent, they finally 'get it' without having to have it remade into an American version, ala Faulty Towers and Threes company and other British comedies. Yet, I believe Tom Cruise is remaking the movie with an American cast. I suppose for those who just cannot understand English unless its spoken in an American accent. That is really a shame as there are so many diverse accents all around the world and LS&2SB could not have been done in any accent other than cockney.(à voir impérativement en V.o!!

Still, there are bits only the British will get, like the scene with the three guys pouncing on the traffic warden in the back of the van. That scene had me clutching my sides. Only someone living in London can feel true loathing for a traffic warden, the most hated person in Britain.Cinemtography was superb. I wont go into who's already done the slow-mo's and stop action argument. It is near impossible to do anything in a movie today that has not already been done. You can either do nothing - or do whatever you can as long as it suits the mood and the flow of the movie, and Guy Ritchie just cannot be faulted. He projects the seedy, thin laned, miserable weathered London, yet with such style that you want to see more. The camera work could not have been better.

Just see the projection of Eddy's unsteady, light-headed wooziness as he gets up from the gambling table having lost everything and owing even more. Brilliant.The Soundtrack was as diverse and yet brilliant as I have ever heard in a movie. I dont want to look like waving the Union Jack here, but this movie shows that the British have a more diverse taste in music. From Reggae, to Ska, to Rock, to Mikis Theodorakis every track played just added to the scene showed.

In short, LS&2SB is a movie that just does not stop for a second, is full of refreshing humour, filmed with style, has a lively soundtrack, some violence thrown in for good measure, and a story with more twists and turns than a bowlfull of spaghetti.Dont let this movie slip you by. You'll either love it, or hate it.If this movie was not British, I'd give it an 8/10, but since it is, it gets 9/10 from me.

Favourite dialogue: Rory Breaker: If you hold back anything, I'll kill ya. If you bend the truth or I think your bending the truth, I'll kill ya. If you forget anything I'll kill ya. In fact, you're gonna have to work very hard to stay alive, Nick. Now do you understand everything I've said? Because if you don't, I'll kill ya.

Le réalisateur : Guy Ritchie

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`100 pounds is still 100 pounds!' `Not when the price is 200 pounds!'

Author: Gregory Day (Master of Insanity) from Piacenza, Italy
3 February 2000

If this film had been dubbed for American viewers, (even if it would have lost the magic of the cockney accent), not one person from the States would have said this wasn't a really good film. I didn't even understand most of the dialogues, but the weirdness of the characters and of what they did was really funny. Not hysterically funny, but Funny! The mixture of comedy and violence was the thing that most amused me. The story itself isn't of the most original, but surely efficacious. The photography and the soundtrack were also brilliant and to finish, I saw Pulp Fiction, I loved it, but after seeing LS&2SM I was too busy thinking over and over how much I liked it for noticing a whatsoever similarity with PF. 10 out of 10 is a bit too much… but 9/10 definitely isn't! Watch it!

Trivia
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-The scene where Nick the Greek breaks the glass in the coffee table was not in the original script. It was, in fact, an accident that happened during filming and was written in by Guy Ritchie as an afterthought.
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-The music that plays just before Hatchet Harry shoots Gary with the antique shotgun is from "Et pour quelques dollars de plus (For a Few Dollars More). It's from a pocket watch that Del Indio would play, and when the music stopped he would draw and shoot someone.
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-When Nick the Greek and Tom are haggling over the price of the stereo, Nick says "All right, all right, keep your Alans on!" The "Alans" in question is cockney rhyming slang, short for Alan Whicker: Alan Whicker = Knickers.
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-This was Jason Statham's film debut.
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-On Vinnie Jones' first day of filming, he had just been released from police custody - he had been arrested for beating up his neighbor.
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-The bar that is used as J.D.'s bar in the movie is really called Vic Naylors, it is exactly as it is seen in the film (apart from the sign on the front of course). It is situated in an area of London called Farringdon and is opposite the old Smithfield meat market.
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-Ray Winstone was originally offered the role of Hatchet Harry.
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-The football commentary in the pub mentions both writer/director Guy Ritchie and producer Matthew Vaughn as players.
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-The movie was dedicated to Lenny McLean, who played Barry the Baptist. He died of cancer exactly one month before the movie's debut in England.
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-Lenny McLean was a famous bare knuckle boxer before he became an actor.
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-The ending to the film was altered some time after filming had been completed which is why Tom is wearing a woolen cap pulled low down - the actor had grown hishair in the intervening period and did not want to shave it short again. (See also goofs)
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The "Botheby's" catalogue, in which the two antique shotguns are listed, is a parody of esteemed British auction house "Sotheby's".
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-The character of Big Chris was allegedly based on real life ex-gangster Dave Courtney.
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-The word "fuck" is used 125 times.
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-Film debut of Vinnie Jones.
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-Lenny McLean was ill during filming with what he believed was the flu. After filming had ended he was hospitalized and initially told that he had pleurisy. However,tests revealed that he had lung cancer which had metastasized to his brain.
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-In several scenes "Nick the Greek" is referred to as "Nick the Bubble". This is truncated Cockney rhyming slang; "Bubble and Squeak" = "Greek". In the 1960 PeterSellers film Le paradis des monte-en-l'air, someone refers to an unseen character "Nick the Bubble".
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-Model Laura Bailey filmed scenes, but didn't make the final cut.
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-Big Chris's line to Dog as he slams his head in the car door is "Never, ever in my life, has anyone been as fucking rude to me, as you, Dog! Fucking bastard!"
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-Jason Statham has in real life worked as a street vendor, similar to the character he plays in the opening of the movie.

 

Des nouvelles du bon Dieu est un film réalisé par Didier Le Pêcheur et sorti en 1996 avec Marie Trintignant, Christian Charmetant, Maria de Medeiros, Michel Vuillermoz, Jean Yanne.

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Résumé
Fidèle aux dernières pages de son ultime roman, l'écrivain Alessandro Battavia se «crashe» contre un mur. La littérature et sa veuve sont en deuil. Les lecteurs de Battavia voient dans son suicide l'aboutissement de la quête du romancier : «Et si nous n'existions pas, si nous n'étions tous que les personnages d'un roman écrit par Dieu».Nord et Evangile vont tenter de trouver la réponse à une question essentielle qu'ils se posent: "Qu'est-ce qui nous prouve que nous ne sommes pas des personnages de roman, que nous existons vraiment?" Il faut dire que Nord et Evangile n'aiment pas beaucoup leur histoire et décident de rencontrer l'écrivain tout-puissant pour lui en toucher deux mots.

Fiche technique
Titre original : Des nouvelles du bon Dieu
Réalisation : Didier Le Pêcheur
Scénario : Didier Le Pêcheur, Artus de Penguern
Production : Fabrice Coat et Michelle Plaa
Producteur délégué : Robert Boner,
Sylvaine Landon et Joaquim Pinto
Sociétés de production : CNC,
Ciné Manufacture, GER,
M6 Films et Program 33
Photographie : Gérard Simon
Musique : Jean-Louis Négro
Montage : Sylvie Landra
Costumes : Brigitte et Marie Calvet
Pays :  France
Genre :
Format : Couleurs
Durée : 100 minutes
Date de sorties :  France : 12 juin 1996