Happy Noirvember! On the thirty- first episode of ATFT, movie critic Matthieu Côté joins me in analyzing Jean- Pierre Melville’s 1967 neo- noir classic, Le Samouraï! This episode is spoiler- filled. 

Le Samouraï is regarded as one of the most influential films of all time, inspiring a plethora of films including Taxi Driver (1976), Drive (2011), and The Killer (2023). The film follows highly- skilled hit- man Jef Costello, played by Alain Delon, as he simultaneously carries out a job and his alibi but his careful plans soon go awry. The audience then watches Jef as he maneuvers his way around the police and the criminals who hired him. Le Samouraï, like Easy Rider, is a show- don’t- tell film, meaning the more you watch it, the more you gain. We watch the characters and story unfold without there being too much dialogue. Films like these are the most rewarding to analyze and, when done right, become lauded as masterpieces. Le Samouraï cemented Alain Delon as massive star in cinema and many regard this film as his best. 

Matthieu is a Canadian movie critic who writes for Horror Quebéc. He has interviewed several prominent directors with the most prominent thus- far being Ari Aster. Most recently, he interviewed director Timo Tjahjanto ahead of his new film The Shadow Strays. Watch his interview here!: https://youtu.be/-qDsUozgrFg?si=ITMrxcNEhYfTzGH5. Matthieu also has his own YouTube channel where he analyzes and reviews both films and television shows old and new. His analyses are truly excellent, I highly recommend subscribing to his channel… here’s the link: https://www.youtube.com/@matthieucote2272/videos.  

This is Matthieu’s first appearance on ATFT! Funny enough, we got connected through the comments of his YouTube video, “⁠The Eyes Of Past Lives” about a year ago! His video greatly helped me prepare for last year’s episode on the film Past Lives so I left a comment telling him how brilliant his analysis was and that I gave him and his video a shout out in that episode. He responded very graciously and said he would love to come on the show sometime. I always kept this in mind so, when I switched the film being discussed for Noirvember this year, I thought I’d ask Matthieu if he was interested and within 24 hours, we scheduled a time to record this episode! This episode was recorded on October 17, 2024. 

In this episode, Matthieu and I analyze Le Samouraï while also pay tribute to one of cinema’s greats, Alain Delon, who passed away this past August. Matthieu talks about his long- time appreciation for this film, even considering it among his very favorite films of all time. We discuss various aspects of the film including how Le Samouraï compares to American noir films of the 1940s as well as recent films that were inspired by this film, the power and emotion only Alain Delon can give through his eyes alone, and Jef's accomplice: his pet bird. All this and much more on the latest episode of All the Film Things!



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