The Rascals trailer tempts us with images straight out of the 80’s… The Rascals, a group of young people evolving in the hip hop era, will cross paths with a group of skins. The confrontation is therefore taking place against a political background, in a France where the rise of extremism is cause for concern.
Who are The Rascals?
For his very first film, Jimmy Laporal-Trésor wanted to talk about gang rivalry. The screenwriter and director sets his story at Paris in the 80 yearswith a crew nicknamed The Rascals. A group of friends from the suburbs, these “rascals” seem to be playing it more than they act… Until the day when one of them, Rico – whose real name is Ahmed – attacks the bad person at a record store. The trailer (in one article) thus lays the common thread of the story: a conflict between The Rascals and a band of skins.
Despite therise of hip-hop culture where the protagonists seem to take pleasure, the bottom of the air is much less attractive. It’s on a racism background that the issues come together. L’far right gains traction in France as Rico goes after his former attacker Loki, a member of the skins. The Rascals thus expose themselves to extremist group retaliation, who does not hesitate to use the Nazi salute over a beer. A war between “facho” and “Arab” – terms used by the different camps – then begins.
Between politics and nostalgia…
Despite the harshness of this story, the trailer makes us to go back in time. Between dance battles, group outings and atypical looks, we also relive the positive of this period. It is indeed the duality between this nostalgic look and the political reality underlying that the director wanted to depict. In the press kithe clarifies his desire to revisit the 80’s that he lived for this story “inspired by real events” :
I wanted to go towards a typical cinema of the 80s, a popular cinema which, at the same time, unfolded a statement on society. I wanted this cut-throat Paris, with radical colors that make sense: a real challenge! To recreate this atmosphere, both oppressive and singular, of the 80s (…).
The Rascals are just waiting for us to witness this clash, which promises to be memorable. A confrontation to be discovered in theaters from January 11, 2023 !
