Jean-Claude Van Damme was born on October 18, 1960, in Sint-Agatha-Berchem, Brussels, Belgium. From a young age, he began training in a variety of martial arts disciplines including Karate, Kickboxing, Muay Thai, and Taekwondo. His sheer dedication to martial arts eventually saw him became a skilled fighter with an impressive physical presence, something he would soon transfer over into movies. In the early 80s, Van Damme emerged as a prominent action star alongside veterans like Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger, earning the nickname “muscles from Brussels” for his impressive physique and martial arts skills. While he may have faded from...
- 2/7/2024
- by Matthew C. F
- TVovermind.com
The French biopic The Conquest (La conquete) recently premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and also opened in France last week. The film’s music is composed by Academy Award-winning composer Nicola Piovani (Life is Beautiful) and has recently been released commercially. The soundtrack album featuring 14 tracks from Piovani’s score is currently available to download on Amazon. For a preview of all tracks, check out the audio clips below. The Conquest takes a look at French president Nicolas Sarkozy’s rise to power. The film is directed by Xavier Durringer (Chok-Dee) and stars Florence Pernel, Bernard Le Coq and Samuel Labarthe. Music Box Films has acquired domestic rights for the film and is planning a release to precede the upcoming American presidential primary season.For more information, watch the trailer below and visit the French official movie website.
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- 5/25/2011
- by filmmusicreporter
- Film Music Reporter
Having a nonactor play himself in a movie is always a risk, but Dida Diafat, a French-born champion of Thai kickboxing, makes a more than credible hero in Chok-Dee, an entertaining true-life story by Xavier Durringer. The quiet intensity and determination Dida demonstrates in boxing carry over into his acting. Chok-Dee makes a great festival film, but chances for North American distribution appear slight. The film plays in the ongoing City of Lights/City of Angels festival.
Dida is a punk in prison when he meets Jean Bernard Giraudeau), a fellow con who teaches him Thai boxing. When Dida gets paroled, Jean urges him to go to Bangkok to train at a famous fight school. Refused admission because he is foreign, he lays siege to its entrance and eventually gets a job washing dishes and moping toilets. When he finally receives training, he turns out to be a quick study and moves up quickly in the caliber of his fights.
At Jean's behest, Dida looks up Kim (Florence Vanida Faivre), Jean's long-lost daughter, who initially wants nothing to do with either him or her father's letters to her. Eventually, curiosity gets the better of Kim and she becomes involved in Dida's life.
The movie never gets inside the world of kickboxing. It watches Dida train in montages but never eavesdrops on his instructor's words of wisdom or strategies of combat. In the fight sequences, the camera often sticks too close to the action, making it difficult to tell how the fight is going.
Melodrama develops over Jean's return to Thailand and crooks who stage illegal no-holds-barred matches. These may be true to Diafat's story, but they feel like Warner Bros. circa 1938.
Dida is a punk in prison when he meets Jean Bernard Giraudeau), a fellow con who teaches him Thai boxing. When Dida gets paroled, Jean urges him to go to Bangkok to train at a famous fight school. Refused admission because he is foreign, he lays siege to its entrance and eventually gets a job washing dishes and moping toilets. When he finally receives training, he turns out to be a quick study and moves up quickly in the caliber of his fights.
At Jean's behest, Dida looks up Kim (Florence Vanida Faivre), Jean's long-lost daughter, who initially wants nothing to do with either him or her father's letters to her. Eventually, curiosity gets the better of Kim and she becomes involved in Dida's life.
The movie never gets inside the world of kickboxing. It watches Dida train in montages but never eavesdrops on his instructor's words of wisdom or strategies of combat. In the fight sequences, the camera often sticks too close to the action, making it difficult to tell how the fight is going.
Melodrama develops over Jean's return to Thailand and crooks who stage illegal no-holds-barred matches. These may be true to Diafat's story, but they feel like Warner Bros. circa 1938.
- 4/15/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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