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Les Mauvais joueurs
2005 Crime / Drama
Review
Les Mauvais joueurs is a first full-length film
from French director Frédéric Balekdjian, a Scorsese-inspired crime-drama
set in Paris’ notorious immigrant quarter, Le Sentier. The film’s stylistic strengths
– notably its raw depiction of the vulnerability of illegal immigrants – are undermined
by the hackneyed narrative in which virtually no cliché is omitted.
There are some credible performances (Pascal Elbé and Simon Abkarian are both excellent),
but the threadbare script offers little in the way of plausible characterisation, plot
and character motive. After a satisfactory, albeit pretty aimless, first half, the
film closes as a rather disappointing variant of a gangster film, sacrificing depth and
realism for the tired convenience of an unimaginative genre concept.
© James Travers 2007 Write a review for this film...User Comments
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Director:
Frédéric Balekdjian
Starring: Pascal Elbé, Simon Abkarian, Isaac Sharry, Linh Dan Pham, Teng Fei Xiang Synopsis
The tough life of Armenian immigrant Vahé Krikorian is about to change – for the
worse. His father’s shop in a poor area of Paris is massively in debt and has to
close, whilst his Chinese girlfriend Lu Ann has left him for another man.
He makes friends with Lu Ann’s brother, Yuen, who stubbornly refuses to work for the gangsters
who smuggled him into France. Vahé tries to persuade Yuen to cooperate, but
the latter has no intention of submitting and is foolish enough to think he can resolve
the matter himself…
Credits
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