Point Blank

Point Blank (15) 86 minutes 2011

French writer-director Fred Cavaye likes to push ordinary men to their limits. His debut movie – “Anything For Her” (2008) saw a college professor break his wife out of prison. In Cavaye's latest movie, "A Bout Portant", or Point Blank, a male hospital nurse tries to rescue his wife who has been kidnapped by criminals. Hollywood, ever vigilant for well-crafted stories, quickly remade Cavaye’s first movie into The Next Three Days (2010) putting Russell Crowe as the lead. Point Blank, similarly exciting and fast-paced is surely destined for a similar fate.

The movie explodes into life with the anti-hero, Hugo Sartet, (Roschdy Zem of Days of Glory fame), running for his life. Wounded in the chase, he is admitted to hospital in critical condition. Samuel (Gillles Lellouche) is the innocent man, a trainee nurse in the wrong place at the wrong time whose only crime is to witness a second attempt on Sartet's life. Samuel is soon thrust into an unfamiliar world in a desperate attempt to rescue his pregnant wife.

Lellouche is in fine form, beautifully transitioning from tender husband into desperate fugitive who will stop at nothing to get back his life, his daring escape in the metro particularly compelling. With nowhere to go, he turns to the police only to find that door slammed in his face. Zem is equally strong, his rugged, angular features- so memorable in Days of Glory - perfect for this role, his prolonged periods of silence implicit with violence. Lellouche and Zem together form a powerful, if reluctant, alliance, each in their different ways, desperate, resourceful and unwilling to lose. Elena Anaya as Nadia, has a nice cameo as Samuel’s simpering and vulnerable wife as do Gerard Lanvin and Mireille Perrier, rival police commanders on different sides of the law. Despite their limited roles, both performances are stylishly rich, Perrier’s unexpected demise, shockingly brutal.
Cavaye is unrelenting, barley pausing for breath, racing from one scene to the next.

The denouement – a cleverly arranged carnival of crime – unfolds within the claustrophobic confines of the last place Sartet would have chosen, police headquarters, some wonderful camerawork (Alain Duplantier) adding to the tension. The dialogue is crisp and for the most part –the unfolding of the plot somewhat heavy - well handled. At less than 90 minutes PB is refreshingly brief. Hollywood will surely change that but why wait for the re-make when the original is so fresh. 8/10.

DM
June 2011