"The Man on the Train," the latest film from French director Patrice Leconte, feels a bit like the old west in small-town France. There are deserted streets emitting an eerie loneliness and a dark foreboding and there is the Bronson-like presence of long-time French pop star Johnny Hallyday, who is the man on the train of the film's title.
He, Milan, arrives late in Annonay, in the France's Rhone region, and makes a beeline for the pharmacy to get some aspirin for his killer headache. By chance, he meets Manesquier (Jean Rochefort), a retired French professor desperate for action before he enters the hospital for heart surgery.
The pair strikes up a friendship, halting and uncomfortable though it is at first. Manesquier is drawn to what he sees as Milan's high-flying, outlaw lifestyle. The latter, however, wants to try on Manesquier's slippers, read his books of poetry and try his hand at the urbane, quiet life.
By the time Saturday rolls around, when each faces a major event, the pair begins to seem like flipsides of the same coin.
{INSERT_RELATED}Leconte, whose works "The Girl on the Bridge" and "The Widow of St. Pierre" does a fine job of capturing Europeans' love for the drama and mystique of the American Western, but he does more than that. He does a brilliant job of exploring two distinct personalities and of mapping their common emotional territory.
Rochefort, an undisputed master who has starred in more than 100 films over five decades, achingly portrays Manesquier, who seems to live a perfect life, but wants more. Manesquier yearns and Rochefort captures his giddyness at meeting Milan, at considering a swashbuckling life, at holding a pistol.
Hallyday was likewise a smart selection for Milan. His deft portrayal of the quiet, hard man gives him an outwardly Clint Eastwood or Charles Bronson appearance. But Hallyday plays Milan deeper. He's not just a tough and wise guy, he's a thinker, a lover of poetry, a man who wants more than to be feared.
The grass is always greener, isn't it?
"The Man on the Train" opens Fri., June 6 at Landmark's Downer Theatre.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
