Film Fest: Les Mauvais Joueurs

I'm off to Frogland in the next couple of hours or so, but thought I would take the time to briefly report on Les Mauvais Joueurs (aka Gamblers) which I just saw last night as part of the Festival course I have been running for the past few weeks now...

Fresh from my (disappointing) experience with Bicycle Men last week, I was kind of worried the film would not be that good. Fortunately, it was not so... I would liken it to a violent Chacun Cherche son Chat, with desperate people on the margins of French society in Paris.

The film is so full of energy it left us all feeling exsangue (for lack of a better word in English, apart from maybe 'drained', but I feel exsangue is much more evocative (drained of all blood)...)

The start of the film in particular is excellent with rapid camera movements following the characters in a reality-TV way - the viewers are just thrown into the film without warning.

The main character, Vahé, following a break up with his Chinese girlfriend, takes her (illegally immigrant) brother under his wing, and we follow the 2 of them through a gallery of ruthless characters who survive their lives in the best way they can.

The middle of the film slows down and disintegrate slightly from the excellent first impression - but I would still recommend the film as one to look for.



Oh and I would like to apologise to the unfortunate man who was quietly sitting by himself in the middle of the row of seats and found himself engulfed by French-speaking noisy and exhuberant people: hope the experience was not *too* bad for you!

Lxox