''Blood Ties'' is a 2013

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in C ...

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...

directed by

Guillaume Canet Guillaume Canet (; born 10 April 1973) is a French actor, film director and screenwriter, and show jumper. Canet began his career in theatre and television before moving to film. He starred in several films like '' Joyeux Noël'', '' Love Me I ...

and starring

Clive Owen Clive Owen (born 3 October 1964) is an English actor. He first gained recognition in the United Kingdom for playing the lead role in the ITV series ''Chancer'' from 1990 to 1991. He received critical acclaim for his work in the film '' Close ...

Billy Crudup William Gaither Crudup (; born July 8, 1968) is an American actor. He is a four-time Tony Award nominee, winning once for his performance in Tom Stoppard's play ''The Coast of Utopia'' in 2007. He has starred in numerous high-profile films, in ...

Marion Cotillard Marion Cotillard (; born 30 September 1975) is a French actress, film producer, singer, and environmentalist who is widely known for her roles in independent films and blockbusters in both European and Hollywood productions. She has received ...

Mila Kunis Milena Markovna "Mila" Kunis (born August 14, 1983) is an American actress. Born in Chernivtsi and raised in Los Angeles, she began playing Jackie Burkhart on the Fox television series ''That '70s Show'' (1998–2006) at the age of 14. Since ...

and

Matthias Schoenaerts Matthias Schoenaerts (; ; born 8 December 1977) is a Belgian actor. He made his film debut at the age of 13 in '' Daens'' (1992), which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. He is best known for his roles as Filip in ...

. It is a remake of the 2008 French thriller film ''Les liens du sang'' by

Jacques Maillot Jacques Maillot (born 12 April 1962) is a French film director and screenwriter. He has directed nine films since 1993. His film '' Nos vies heureuses'' was entered into the 1999 Cannes Film Festival. Filmography * '' Des fleurs coupées'' (199 ...

, an adaptation of the French novel ''Deux frères: flic & truand'' by Bruno and Michel Papet. The screenplay was written by Canet and

James Gray James, Jim, or Jimmy Gray may refer to: Politicians * James Gray (Australian politician) (1820–1889), member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly * James Gray (British politician) (born 1954), British politician * James Gray (mayor) (1862–1916) ...

. The film was selected to be screened out of competition at the

2013 Cannes Film Festival The 66th Cannes Film Festival took place in Cannes, France, from 15 to 26 May 2013. Steven Spielberg was the head of the jury for the main competition. New Zealand film director Jane Campion was the head of the jury for the Cinéfondation and ...

. It received a

limited release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unit ...

in France on October 30, 2013 in France, and on March 21, 2014 in the United States.

Plot

In 1974, Chris Pierzynski is released from prison after serving twelve years for murdering a rapist and killer he caught in the act. His ex-wife Monica is a drug-addicted prostitute. They have a son and a daughter. Chris tries to go straight with his new girlfriend Natalie, but is betrayed and sabotaged in his pursuit of a legitimate business venture. Returning to his criminal ways puts him in direct conflict with his brother Frank, who happens to be a New York City cop. Their sister Marie, and their sick father Leon, want Chris and Frank to just get along with each other. When arresting Anthony Scarfo at his house, Frank happens to meet his ex-girlfriend Vanessa again. Though Vanessa is now married to Anthony and has a daughter by him, Frank and Vanessa get back together again anyway, and she decides to divorce Anthony. But in the meantime, Frank becomes conflicted over allowing Chris to flee the scene of a felony murder. After Anthony is released from police custody, his first act is to seek revenge against Frank for destroying his home life. Chris uncovers the plot and must decide between saving his own skin and stopping Anthony in his tracks.

Cast

Production

Filming started on May 3, 2012 in Woodmere, New York. The first pictures of the set surfaced on May 12, 2012.

Lionsgate UK Lionsgate UK (formerly Redbus Film Distribution, and briefly known as Helkon SK between 2001 and 2003) is the British subsidiary of the Canadian-American film company, Lionsgate. Founded in 1997 by Simon Franks and Zygi Kamasa, the company hav ...

acquired the UK rights.

Casting

On March 15, 2012, it was announced that

and

would star in ''Blood Ties'', playing two brothers with

and

Zoe Saldana Zoe (also ZOE, Zoë, Zoé, etc.) can refer to: *ζωή (''zōḗ''), the Ancient Greek word for "life" People * Zoe (name), including list of persons and fictional characters with the name Film and television * ''Zoe'' (film) * ZOE Broadcast ...

as love interests and

as ex-lover. Austin Williams will play a younger version of Owen's character.

Release

''Blood Ties'' screened out of competition at the

. It was released in France on October 30, 2013. A trimmed version, running 127 minutes, was released in the United States on March 21, 2014.

Home media

The 127-minute version was released on DVD in June 2014.

Reception

Box office

In the United States it was released by Roadside Attractions and made $42,472 over two weekends. ''Blood Ties'' garnered 2.5 million worldwide. In France, it had only 238,823 entries, although it was screened in more than 400 screens in the country.

Critical response

''Blood Ties'' received mixed reviews. On review aggregate website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, the film holds an approval rate of 52%, based on 56 reviews, with an average score of 5.61/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "''Blood Ties'' boasts a fine cast and palpable period detail, but ultimately fails to do much of anything new with its formulaic story."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

gave the film a rating of 45/100 (indicating "mixed or average"), based on reviews from 16 critics. Todd McCarthy of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly large ...

'' criticized the film, saying: "The impressive cast makes this French-financed New York 1974-set production watchable but it's too inert to catch on with critics or audiences." Xan Brooks of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'' gave the film 3 out of 5 stars. Matt Barone of ''

Complex Complex commonly refers to: * Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe ** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...

'' gave the film 3 out of 10 stars. Fionnuala Halligan of ''

Screen International ''Screen International'' is a British film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by Media Business Insight, a British B2B media company. The magazine is primarily aimed at those involved in the global film business. ...

'' called it "''

Heat In thermodynamics, heat is defined as the form of energy crossing the boundary of a thermodynamic system by virtue of a temperature difference across the boundary. A thermodynamic system does not ''contain'' heat. Nevertheless, the term is ...

'' meets ''

Mesrine Jacques Mesrine (; 28 December 1936 – 2 November 1979) was a French criminal responsible for numerous murders, bank robberies, burglaries, and kidnappings in France, the US, and Canada. Mesrine repeatedly escaped from prison and made in ...

'' via

Cain and Abel In the biblical Book of Genesis, Cain ''Qayīn'', in pausa ''Qāyīn''; gr, Κάϊν ''Káïn''; ar, قابيل/قايين, Qābīl / Qāyīn and Abel ''Heḇel'', in pausa ''Hāḇel''; gr, Ἅβελ ''Hábel''; ar, هابيل, Hābīl ...

". Ryland Aldrich of ''

Twitch Film Screen Anarchy, previously known as Twitch Film or Twitch, is a Canadian English-language website featuring news and reviews of mainly international, independent and cult films. The website was founded in 2004 by Todd Brown. In addition to films, ...

'' praised the production. "From the wonderfully decorated exteriors loaded with the cars of the era to the record players spinning classic hits, 1970s New York absolutely comes alive", he said.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Blood Ties (2013 film) 2013 films 2013 crime thriller films 2010s English-language films American crime thriller films American remakes of French films Crime film remakes Crime films based on actual events English-language French films Films about brothers Films about dysfunctional families Films about murderers Films about the New York City Police Department Films based on adaptations Films based on French novels Films directed by Guillaume Canet Films set in 1974 Films set in 1975 French films set in New York City Films shot in New York City Films with screenplays by James Gray French crime thriller films Roadside Attractions films Thriller film remakes Thriller films based on actual events Worldview Entertainment films 2010s American films 2010s French films Foreign films set in the United States