"Red Lights:" a disturbing gem from new-ish wave French cinema. Don't approach this

Posted by tinear (A) on January 19, 2010 at 17:14:36

expecting car chases, flashing knives, kung-fu fights, and pulse pounding music and you might find it your most enjoyable thriller in some time. Cedric Kahn, the talent behind the excellent, "L'ennui," returns here to tell the story of a middle-aged man who sets out with his wife to visit their children who have been sent south of Paris to a summer camp. On the way, the couple's bickering becomes intense and, after a particularly acrimonious exchange, he stops at a bar while his wife, who threatens to leave if he does, is left behind. Sure enough, when finally he emerges, the car is empty with a cryptic message telling him she is taking the train left upon the car seat.
From here on, the film accelerates into his frantic attempts to find her, with tragic results.
This film goes from the entertaining to the magnificent because of the Oscar worthy performance of Jean-Pierre Darroussin. I immediately, upon film's end, dashed to IMDB to see what else he's done so I could find it.
This is a thriller which does its work not only inside your head, though there is plenty of that. It also has a terrifying scene of violence all the more so because of its utter believability--- it's inevitability.
Kahn and his German counterpart, Haneke, have perfected the art of quiet terror, leaving the pensive viewer shaken, with many questions over which to spin but never to resolve.
This is a thinking man's film, similar in that respect to "Caché," and "The Vanishing."

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Topic - "Red Lights:" a disturbing gem from new-ish wave French cinema. Don't approach this - tinear 17:14:36 01/19/10 (2)

Funny, they must have put a different disk in you sleeve...the one I saw wasn't nearly enthralling. * - mr grits 08:15:19 01/20/10 (1)

Stick to "Saw." nt - tinear 09:56:12 01/20/10 (0)

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