Zoe Saldaña just walked away with her first Oscar (Best Supporting Actress) for her inspiring and triumphant performance as Rita Mora Catro in Emilia Pérez. The 46-year-old actress has been at it for a while, getting her start in the business around 2000. Twenty-five years later, she has appeared in four of the six highest-grossing movies of all time, including her turns in the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise and the Avatar films. However, one of her better performances was alongside a stellar ensemble in the 2013 drama Blood Ties.
Saldaña stars with Clive Owen, Marion Cotillard, Billy Crudup, Mila Kunis, Lili Taylor, and James Caan to tell the story of two blue-collar brothers on opposite sides of the law who have a very complex relationship going back to childhood. Blood Ties is a French production directed by Guillaume Canet and based on the book “Deux Freres, flic & truand” by Bruno and Michel Papet and a remake of the 2008 award-winning French thriller Les liens du sang. Clearly, Canet has seen and admired the work of Francis Ford Coppola and William Friedkin, as he borrows storytelling elements from The Godfather films and thrilling action sequences from The French Connection.
What Is ‘Blood Ties’ About?

Chris Pierzynski (Owen) is fresh out of prison and looking to do the right thing and get legitimate work. Younger brother Frank Pierzynski (Crudup) is a respected Brooklyn cop who has always lived in the enormous shadow of his larger-than-life but felonious brother, Chris. Frank is trying to rekindle his relationship with Vanessa (Saldaña) but keeps getting pulled into Chris’s web as he falls back into his thieving, murderous ways, wanting money and respect. Eventually, when Chris tests Frank’s loyalty to him and their family, things come to a head. Both brothers have to make some fateful decisions that will affect everyone in their orbits, including Vanessa, their father “Pops” (Caan), sister Marie (Taylor), Chris’s ex-wife Monica (Cotillard), and his new fiancée Natalie (Kunis). Saldaña has an Oscar-worthy monologue in a passionate argument with Frank halfway through the movie, proving that she has always had the versatility and chops to win the ultimate prize but needed the right project. It turns out that it was the musical Emilia Pérez in which everything came together for the uber-talented actress. While on the topic of strong women who can handle the extreme dysfunction within the Pierzynski men, Marion Cotillard is spellbinding as Chris’s drug-addled ex-wife, who ends up as the madam in his brothel.
Canet Borrows From ‘The Godfather’ and ‘The French Connection’

Image via Lionsgate

It’s ironic that James Caan was cast as the family patriarch in Blood Ties, as Canet borrows many of the familial storytelling plot devices and techniques from the seminal mafia movie The Godfather. The Pierzynski clan is a feisty but tight bunch, and Pops has instilled within his children that blood is thicker than water and no one—absolutely no one—messes with the family. Even though Frank has chosen the life of a law enforcement officer, he still faces many dilemmas as Chris constantly tests his limits. Frank is very much in love with Vanessa, but every time he takes a step forward with her in their relationship, Chris will pull him back two steps by committing a robbery or cold-blooded murder.

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Set in gritty 1974 Brooklyn, Canet also draws inspiration from William Friedkin and his penchant for grimy cops and robbers backdrops like in The French Connection. A handful of thrilling action scenes involve massive car chases that last for several minutes and take the audience through what seems like the entire New York borough. The final ten minutes of Blood Ties is the perfect marriage of both classic films and provides a sequence that is thrilling and gut-wrenching when Frank and Vanessa’s lives are threatened by her jealous, jilted ex-husband Anthony Scarfo (Matthias Schoenaerts).
Chris Proves That His Brother Is All That Matters in the Gripping Final Scene of ‘Blood Ties’

Frank finally decides that he is ready to take the next step with Vanessa and leave the family drama behind for a while. But as they’re headed to Grand Central Station to get out of town, Vanessa’s ex, Anthony, gets wind of it and, in a fit of rage, grabs a gun and plans to kill them. Simultaneously, the jig is up for Chris, and the cops are hot on his tail as he races to beat Anthony to the train station to save Frank and Vanessa’s lives. What follows is an exhilarating car chase straight out of The French Connection as Chris speeds his way through traffic. We won’t spoil the ending for you, but suffice it to say that it is a heart-pounding climax that proves what truly matters to Chris. By doing so, magnanimous and out of character for him, it leaves you speechless.