Sunday 7 December 2008

Justice - A Cross The Universe


Take two Frenchmen, a bunch of video cameras, a 3 week jaunt across America, a gun-toting manager and what do you get? A Cross The Universe, the debut tour documentary and live album by French electro duo Justice. Shot by the band and Romain Gavras (director of D.A.N.C.E. and Stress music videos), the spirit of the film seems to be one of teenagers let loose. Not that I blame them what with the amazing success they’ve had over the last 2 years they deserve to have a little fun and that’s what the film shows the band enjoying the fruits of they’re success. However, this can a bit tiresome there’s only so many times you can listen to the bands manager, Bouchon, go on about the power of guns then cut to Gaspard trying to mount every/any girl in the room. This is all entertaining but it can sometimes feel like they’re bragging about how ‘rock and roll’ they are.
The documentary climaxes with the band and manager being arrested moments after coming off stage after an incident involving Xavier smashing a bottle over a fans head after he tried to attack him. Which is the ideal way to end the film but the energy of the tour and their music is not really captured in the film, the real energy of Justice is left to the live album.

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