The first film in the two-part Mesrine series is getting a release on Blu-ray and we have three copies to give away. Jean-François Richet’s Mesrine: Killer Instinct stars Vincent Cassel, Cécile De France, and Gérard Depardieu.
For a chance to win one of the three Blu-rays make sure you are following The Film Stage on Facebook and/or Twitter and fill out the form below by 11:59 PM EST on Monday, February 21st, 2011. We will select the winners at random and you will be notified by e-mail. One entry per household. No purchase necessary. Winners must live inside the U.S. Shipping to a P.O. box is not permitted. Check out more info regarding the film below, after the submission form. Good luck!
MUSIC BOX FILMS HOME ENTERTAINMENT ANNOUNCES
Mesrine: Killer Instinct
INTERNATIONAL SUPERSTAR VINCENT CASSEL STARS AS JACQUES MESRINE IN THE FIRST CHAPTER OF THE ACCLAIMED, REAL-LIFE UNDERWORLD SAGA OF THE MOST FAMOUS CRIMINAL IN THE HISTORY OF FRANCE
Available on DVD and Blu-ray Disc
February 22, 2011
Critic’s Pick! “A riveting, visceral entertainment that evokes a Gallic Scarface…” – The New York Times
“The best gangster film of the year. A splendid and stylish crime epic.” –Newhouse News Service
“The real-life career criminal Jacques Mesrine is seen in all his wild, scary, violent glory.” — Philadelphia Inquirer
Mesrine: Killer Instinct
Chicago, IL (January 3, 2011) – Jacques Mesrine was the last of the great French gangsters, his criminal career spanning more than 20 years of kidnappings, robberies, murders and prison escapes in some half-dozen countries. Mesrine’s criminal reign came to an end in a hail of bullets shot by police in the middle of Paris in 1979, a spectacular demise that put the crowing touch on his legend. Now, nearly 30 years after his death, the true story of Jacques Mesrine can be told in Mesrine: Killer Instinct, the first film in an acclaimed two-part crime saga that’s received recognition around the globe. Music Box Films Home Entertainment will release Mesrine: Killer Instinct on Blu-ray disc and DVD for the first time on February 22nd for the suggested retail prices of $29.95 and $34.95 respectively.
An ambitious and sprawling epic tale of a life in crime, Mesrine: Killer Instinct stars international superstar Vincent Cassel (Ocean’s 13, Eastern Promises and, most recently, Black Swan) as the brutal, brooding and arguably brilliant man who was declared “French Public Enemy Number One.” Mesrine: Killer Instinct, the first film in the two-part production, tells of Jacques Mesrine’s early years: his return home after serving with the French army in the Algerian War in the late 1950s; his first experiences with crime, violence and the underworld; his intensifying criminal activities in France and across Europe; his complex and impassioned relationships with women; and his flight overseas from the French authorities to Canada in 1968.
Masterfully directed by Jean-Francois Richet (Assault on Precinct 13), Messrine: Killer Instinct is the first film in the two-part Jacques Mesrine saga. The second film, Mesrine: Public Enemy #1, also directed by Richet, details how the “Man of One Hundred Faces” cultivated his own legend, battled the penal system and continued on with his brutal but undeniably intoxicating life of crime. Music Box Films Home Entertainment will release Mesrine: Public Enemy #1 on Blu-ray disc and DVD on March 29th.
Mesrine: Killer Instinct and its companion feature are based on Jacques Mesrine’s 1977 autobiography L’Instinct de Mort (which he penned while incarcerated in a French jail before orchestrating his final, remarkable prison escape). The two movies were filmed concurrently with an enormous cast and crew on locations in France, Canada, Spain, Algeria, the United States and Great Britain, as well as in the studio.
Co-starring alongside Cassel in Mesrine: Killer Instinct is an ensemble of Europe’s greatest screen talents, including Roy Dupuis (Sticky Fingers), Gilles Lellouche (Little White Lies) and, as the mentor who introduces Mesrine to the criminal career that would forever define him, legendary French actor Gérard Depardieu (La Vie en Rose, The Man in the Iron Mask). Portraying the women in Mesrine’s life are three of the European cinema’s most popular leading ladies: Cécile De France (Hereafter), Ludivine Sagnier (Swimming Pool) and Elena Anaya (Cairo Time).
Mesrine: Killer Instinct was released theatrically in 2010, to critical acclaim in the Top 50 markets in the U.S. In 2009, Mesrine: Killer Instinct was nominated for an outstanding 10 Cesar Awards (the Academy Awards of France) including Best Film, and won three, including Best Actor (Vincent Cassel) and Best Director (Jean-Francois Richet). Cassel was further honored with both the prestigious Étoiles d’Or (the French film critics’ award) and Lumiere Award for Best Actor.
Critics have described Mesrine: Killer Instinct as “Superb! Brisk, irresistible entertainment.” (Mick Lasalle, San Francisco Chronicle) and its star’s performance as “bravura acting….. Cassel really goes all out here, with a presence that refuses to let go.” (Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times). Part bio-pic and part thriller, Mesrine: Killer Instinct depicts a world that vacillates between romanticism and cruelty, and flamboyance and tragedy; it’s a stunning and shocking tale of crime and punishment that rises to the heights of such classic underworld epics as The Godfather and Scarface.
Mesrine: Killer Instinct — Synopsis
In 1959, loyal son and dedicated soldier Jacques Mesrine (Vincent Cassel) returns to his home in Paris to live with his parents after serving with the French Army in the Algerian War. It doesn’t take too long for Mesrine to be seduced by the neon glamour of the “City of Light” and all the easy money that’s there for the taking. Mentored in the ways of a criminal life by a local underworld boss (Gerald Depardieu), Mesrine turns his back on middle class law-abiding and soon moves swiftly up the criminal ladder. After pulling off an audacious heist, Mesrine and his mistress Jeanne (Cecile de France) flee to Canada where the opportunity of one big payout lures him out of hiding and propels him toward international notoriety.
Mesrine: Killer Instinct hits Blu-ray on February 22nd, 2011.