“When I started writing Tigers and Hyenas more than a gangster film, my desire was to make an old-fashioned heist and burglary film. But I didn't want to create a team with specialists, but rather with thugs who are a bit old school. » When director Jérémie Guez (the film Sons of Philadelphia or the series B.R.I. on Canal+) discusses his new feature film, Tigers and Hyenaswhich comes out this Friday on Prime Video, we find ourselves on familiar ground. And its basic story does not seek to reinvent powder, but to be as effective as possible.
We follow Malik (Waël Sersoub), a young trafficker who learns that his stepfather, Serge Lamy (Vincent Perez), a repeat robber, has just been arrested with accomplices. After the trial opens, Iris (Géraldine Nakache), the lawyer for one of the defendants, offers Malik a pact: accept a mysterious and dangerous heist in exchange for the freedom of Serge Lamy and that of his client. Malik accepts this proposal and will join forces with a team of robbers, notably the formidable Avi (Sofiane Zermani) and Ange (Olivier Martinez).
“More interesting to write human characters”
Even if Tigers and Hyenas takes place in the present day, there is a completely old-fashioned side to the film, particularly with its robbers with more complex profiles than simple thugs. “It's still more interesting to write human characters, who have motivations that may require empathy. It also allows us to write more nuanced dialogues, where we don’t only make our protagonists speak in a virile way,” underlines Jérémie Guez. Because if the film remains quite masculine, it has the intelligence to bring nuance thanks to the character of Géraldine Nakache, secondary but essential.
More Tigers and Hyenas remains above all a heist film, and in this feature film, we will get two for the price of one – the first on the Paris ring road, the other in a court – in sequences which will bring back memories to moviegoers. “I've heard a lot about films like The Untouchables. But for me, the absolute reference remains the filmography of Jean-Pierre Melville, and I try to get as close as possible to it,” explains Jérémie Guez. Whatever the genre of the film – heist, gangsters or heist – Tigers and Hyenas came out honorably. A square film, without frills.
Tigers and Hyenason Prime Video from this Friday, November 22. Duration: 1 hour 44 minutes.
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