Point Blank

Ends tonight, Sept. 22. Samuel (Gilles Lellouche) is a nurse’s aide in the hospital where one Hugo Sartet, a seriously wounded criminal, is held in custody. After Samuel foils an attempt to kill Sartet in his hospital bed, the thugs responsible kidnap Samuel’s pregnant wife, Nadia (Elena Anaya), and order him to free Sartet and deliver him to them in exchange for Nadia’s release. An unassuming sort who is absolutely devoted to his young wife, Samuel desperately tries to comply, but there’s nothing simple or easy about the chore he faces. Bad enough that he has to circumvent the police and his own colleagues at the hospital; worse yet that the thugs pursuing Sartet are rogue cops who are ready to kill the other cops who are also on Sartet’s trail. Under these Byzantine circumstances, Sartet (played by the charismatic Roschdy Zem) becomes Samuel’s protector, guide and provisional partner in their desperate struggle to survive. That’s the basic story of this propulsive crime film from France, but what really matters most is that writer-director Fred Cavayé packs all this and more into a mere 84 minutes of non-stop action. Somehow, a rather convoluted story gets briskly elucidated amidst the pell-mell machinations of nearly a dozen tightly wound characters. Pageant Theatre. Rated R