Nuit blanche

2011, France/Belgium/Luxembourg, directed by Frédéric Jardin

A nifty French crime thriller, set over the course of 24 hours, most of which we spent inside a cavernous night club where cops -- of the good and the bad varieties, though we're not always sure which is which -- and multiple robbers try to outwit one another as a major drug score/bust (depending on your perspective) comes to a head. There are a few rather obvious touches -- the bent cop who listens to classical music -- but for the most part this is a very inventive genre variation, turning the nightclub into a theatre of nightmares for the protagonists, where just getting from one place to another is a fraught experience, while the clubbers blithely enjoy the night. One of the cleverest, funniest sequences sees hero/antihero Tomer Sisley, a captivating presence, suddenly forced to join in the coordinated dancing in the middle of the dancefloor, in the hopes of eluding his pursuers.