Review of Sleepless Night (2011) by David H — 11 Jun 2012

Action films have long been an American export, but recently some of the best action movies have come from overseas. Current examples include hits like The Raid, Attack The Block, and the new French actioner, Sleepless Night.

Now, France is no stranger to action films. One of the countries biggest filmmakers, Luc Besson, has been shootin' 'em up for decades, but like the best of French drama, Sleepless Night is much more than the high-octane, outrageous spectacles of Besson's work. Instead, the film is a familiarly simple story told through wonderful, steady restraint and command from writer/director Frederic Jardin.

When two men rob and kill a pair of drug mules, it is quickly revealed that the perpetrators are dirty cops. When one of the cops, Vincent (Tomer Sisley, Largo Winch), is discovered by mob boss Marciano (Serge Riaboukine), the ruthless gangster has Vincent's son kidnapped and ransomed for the stolen cocaine. As Vincent decides to deal with Marciano, his partner plots to double cross him, and the scenario unravels, implicating more dirty cops and involving rival gangsters. Vincent soon finds himself trapped in Marciano's nightclub, frantic to save his son as his plans topple and the cops and mobsters close in on him.

Jardin manages to confine the action to Marciano's club, which is a sprawling complex populated by party-goers, gamblers, and plenty of innocent bystanders with which Vincent can occasionally blend into. And that is one of the brilliant things about Jardin and writing parter Nicolas Saada's film. There is an idea of an action movie played out around hundreds of oblivious nightclubbers, which grounds the film in a reality. Jardin never stages a fight that doesn't include some hapless extra in the scene who is comically puzzled by the violence happening around him.

Case in point is the awesome fight scene involving Vincent and another cop in the club's kitchen. The stage is littered with practical kitchen utilizes and plenty of line-cooks and dishwashers who are amazed at the intense battle that is tearing their very real workspace apart. The scene goes on for an exhaustive period, the monotony never dull, but rather intriguing, punctuated by the overt lack of musical score (the audience isn't manipulated by the music, but the action is highlighted by a fantastic sound design).

The action is also cleverly staged by using the now cliched "shaky cam" technique that is being coined as chaos cinema. Now, I'm not a fan of the more common uses of this technique, which involves tight, handheld shots that move wildly in an effort to disorient the viewer during action. However, here the effect is done well, as Jardin and cinematographer Tom Stern use the effect to add to the chaotic and claustrophobic environment (and psyche of the protagonist). It is interesting to note that Stern also used this same effect this year in the box-office smash, The Hunger Games, but to lesser success (here it feels warranted, while in Hunger Games, it feels forced and unnecessary).

Like most action films, the dialogue is sometimes trite, but then again, the scenario is all to familiar territory. The acting is also typical of most action films, although Tomer Sisley does a capable job of presenting a dirty cop as a sympathetic hero. Serge Riaboukine is also fun as the villain Marciano.

But the real draw to the film is the way in which director Jardin manages to take a rote premise and make it fresh utilizing carefully crafted plotting, an unusual setting, and bits of realism that add both humor and believability to what could easily be a ridiculous thriller. There is something special here, which why it's probably already being courted by American studios for a remake Rest assured, in another filmmaker's hands, this will surely fall flat. Oddly enough, that great America export, the action film, is now coming full circle, with studios importing the best overseas. See this original before it gets the bastard treatment here.