User Reviews

"Sleepless Night" opens with a drug heist gone wrong, which should already give you an idea of the kind of movie it is. Two masked robbers aggressively drive up to a car in the middle of the street, in which are two drug carriers with a duffle bag containing around ten kilos of cocaine. The masked robbers pull guns on the carriers and order them to retrieve the bag. One of the carriers is shot dead, but not before he stabs the robber in his side and taking off his mask, exposing him to public view. The other one escapes. It's at this point we learn that the robbers are actually cops. The one that was stabbed is named Vincent (Tomer Sisley). He also happens to be the one that orchestrated the heist. The one that let the other carrier escape is named Manuel (Laurent Stocker). They know they have to go to the scene and at least attempt to cover their tracks.

As this is being established, we learn that Vincent has a teenage son named Thomas (Samy Seghir). The two are not on the best terms; Vincent, always working, is never around. He drops Thomas off at school, the two having had an argument. Later in the day Vincent's ex-wife, Julia (Catalina Denis), calls in a panic, as Thomas hasn't been answering his cell phone. Initially, Vincent believes that there's nothing to worry about. But then he gets a call from Thomas' cell phone; on the other end is Vincent's underworld connection, a mob boss named Jose Marciano (Serge Riaboukine). Thomas has been kidnapped. Jose is very upset with Vincent. Not only was he recognized in the heist by a bystander, he also has the bag of cocaine. Thomas' life depends on Vincent delivering the bag to Jose's nightclub by the end of the night.

Vincent has every intention of delivering, much to the chagrin of Manuel, who has debts that need to be erased. Vincent infiltrates Jose's nightclub with the bag and promptly hides it above a ceiling tile in a men's room stall. Unbeknownst to him, he has been followed by another cop named Vignali (Lizzie Brochere), who traces his steps, finds the bag, and moves it into a spot just above a ladies' room stall. Her superior is a cop named Lacombe (Julien Boisselier), who has an understanding with the desperate Manuel. Lacombe's job is to sniff out corrupt cops, which would be fine except that he's a zealot and an absolute jerk. Vincent does not yet know he's involved, but it well aware of who Lacombe is, and he can sense early on that he and Manuel are already in trouble.

It's at this point that the film becomes a monotonous series of tense exchanges and action sequences. Vincent finally meets with Jose, who then allows Thomas to catch a glimpse of his father. Vincent returns to the men's room, discovers that the bag of cocaine is missing, and in a panic storms into the club's kitchen and forces two cooks to fill dozens of Ziploc bags with flour. Jose meets with the Turkish carriers the cocaine is supposed to be delivered to, and yet another series of tense exchanges take place. Vincent rescues his son, only for him to be promptly recaptured. There are many scenes in which Vincent frantically darts through various sections of the club, from the main room to the adjoining restaurant to the upstairs rooms to the kitchen. The latter is the setting for a physical altercation between Vincent and Lacombe, one that was allowed to go on much longer than it should have.

I think part of the problem here is that the plot comes off as a means to an end, namely an excuse to overload the final act with action sequences. There's nothing innately wrong with action, although I am bothered when it amounts to little more than displays of kinetic energy. It becomes less about the situation and more about the violence, the choreography, the unsteady camera-work, the standoffs, and the gunshots. It becomes a technical exercise when it should have remained a story. When the film does stop to take a breath, we notice that Vincent is continuing to nurse his stab wound. This means, obviously, that it's not just a matter of saving Thomas; it's a matter of saving him before time runs out.

The climax of the film, which I will not spoil for you, is more emotional than it is narrative. There is something to be said for taking that approach, but only when it's done well. Here, we're left with the unshakable feeling that more needed to be said before the final credits started rolling. The loose ends were left untied. Here is a film in which you want full resolution, if for no reason other than it seems appropriate given the material. "Sleepless Night" gets off to an adequate start and is in general not a bad film, but I do feel that it could have tried for something a little less mechanical. It's at heart the story of a father trying to rescue his son, so I see no reason why the filmmakers had to rely so heavily on unnecessary displays of frenetic activity. Less action and more character would have been a good place to start.

-- Chris Pandolfi (www.atatheaternearyou.net)

Exciting, fast paced, surprising, everything is wonderful in this high scale french crime flick. Everything. There is no love story for sissies here. Only a tale of rotten cops vs a handful of thugs in search for a drug shipment. All the action takes place in a night club You find here no "good" character, except a supporting one, ONLY ONE. Yes folks. It's unusual, isn'it?

A female cop.

All the other characters are not really sympathetic, not at all. Even the lead: Tomer Sisley, who gives here a better performance than in LARGO WINCH crap. Yes, I love this movie, the "crossing" between the different characters, two groups of gangsters and the different rotten cops. All this brilliantly made mix up gives a very entertaining, fast paced story, with an editing that keeps you stuck to your seat. The screenplay is a little masterpiece. Julien Boisselier is here a better bad guy than in LES GARDIENS DE L'ORDRE. Boisselier with his good son in law face.

Joey Starr is of course a terrific mobster.

Don't miss this film. It's in the line of A BOUT PORTANT. The new kind of french thriller.

Cop commits crime. Cop's son gets kidnapped by crime-lord in exchange for return of stolen goods. Throw in some dirty cops, more criminals and pumping club music amidst sporadic action scenes and you've got the gist of the movie.

Now, while the movie is overall enjoyable, well acted and possesses decent action, it was frustrating to watch at times because it felt like the cop kept making stupid or bad decisions, one after the next, which ultimately made his and his son's situations worse. He's a cop, and supposedly a criminal on top of it, so you're inclined to think that he should be more savvy than he actually is. But then I asked myself what I would do in his situation and I had to admit that he really didn't have a lot of options. Still, I found some of the scenes frustratingly repetitive and the pace slow at times so instead of the "I can't wait to see what happens next" expectation of an action-suspense film like this, I found myself wanting something, ANYTHING, to happen if only to break the tedium and move the plot - or status bar - along. I didn't expect non-stop mindless action but every scene should move the film along and many did quite the opposite.

I was surprised not to see more reviews for this film so thought I would add my own short one. The film is set in a nightclub, albeit quite an unrealistic one with people bopping to Queen one moment then hardcore techno the next. The action scenes dominate the film and the one set in the kitchens is really superb, a masterpiece in fact. Other than that the films is very watchable albeit quite daft as in real life the club would have been emptied quite quickly with all the violence going on. Also it seems more like a big hotel complex than a night club with the kitchens, casino etc.The lead actor is very charismatic and makes the film so you keep watching despite the silly and unrealistic parts, like the bad guy cop getting his head smashed in and falling off a balcony down a flight of steps then being OK 15 minutes later. Enjoy, I did!

It is a film that treats the viewer as if he did not think. It leaves everything too clear. He has to explain it to you in case you're going to miss it.

The action scenes are very badly shot. In general it is very badly shot, the camera makes you dizzy all the time, but when it comes to action, you almost have to wait at the end to see what happened.

The casting, for my taste is very badly done. I do not believe almost any character. The bad ones, they are not bad, they do not give fear, rather disgust, it seems that they have not showered even when they are rich.

I had not seen anyone lose so much blood and still stand winning fights.

The interior photography may be fine, but by day outside, it is very ugly.

The address, I do not know if I saw something when I looked in the combo, but we do not see anything. It has a rhythm, yes, it does not bore, but it does not allow for more.

If I know, I do not see it

I will try to keep this so-called "review" as brief as possible, as it is more of an expression of an opinion more than anything else.

After my wife and I had watched the USA remake with Jamie Fox, a film I reviewed not long ago and which essentially fell flat due to it's very generic and formulaic production (maybe due to studio/Producer interférences, who knows), we decided to hunt down the french original as we were curious to witness the original which unfortunately spawned such a forgettable american remake.

"Night Blanche" doesn't break new grounds in either storytelling, editing, pacing, cinematography or such, but it does offer up that euro feel which no american/north american production can duplicate. By standing on it's own and quickly presenting characters who are set-up and defined quite rapidly, the story can then advance at a good pace and the tension / suspence can develop without much hesitation. SPOILER HERE: contrary to the US "Sleepless" remake, the baddies are all very well established quite early on, and we don't go through characterization hoops just to keep the audience guessing for sheer guessing's sake.

Although there is no frenetic suspence which get unbearable, the fact remains that bad goes to worse and then some, the so-called "good" guys forced to do less-than-nice actions, and the lines between good and bad are blurred, although the good and evil still remains quite established.

Characters may be under-developped but they are explored enough to get the story going, and no one really feels as though they've been pushed onto the screen for eye candy or a generic plot-servicing device. It is also interesting that some characters take quite a long time to be brought center stage or even utter a single word, as the visual narrative seems to take care of of the how and where things happen in the sequence they do.

All in all this is far from an american guns blazing production but has it's fair share of guns and violence, which rivals any US product without the over-use of CGI or car chases, although folks not used to the french / euro cinema may find the rhythm of the movie, as well as how characters are developped, a bit unsatisfactory, even if this remains a very solid action thriller in the purest sense.

I would recommend it any day over the US remake for sure - it's worth it!

Having enjoyed French Action Thrillers like Point Blank (2010-also reviewed) in the past,I keep a look out for other similar titles. Whilst seeing it get trashed,I read in review for Sleepless (2017) that it was a remake of a superior French flick,which led to me buying the disc. Nearing the end of ICM's French Viewing Challenge,I felt it was time for a sleepless viewing.

View on the film:

Rolling out across a night club over one night, co-writer/(with Olivier Douyere and Nicolas Saada) director Frederic Jardin & Clint Eastwood's cinematographer since Blood Work (1997) Tom Stern charge the Thriller atmosphere with hovering panning shots following Vincent in the middle of the cramped partying crowds. In the confine spaces of the back rooms in the club, Jardin and editor Christophe Pinel give the action scenes a chunky crunch, in snappy edits and up-close shots catching Vincent's desperation to wiggle out of each battle,along with a fun use of objects around the place, (such as in the kitchen and the dance room) giving the fights an unpredictable liveliness. Whilst some tracks skip on glaring plot holes, (why does the club hardly have any CCTV?) the writers hit the beats on keeping Vincent's mind-set straight-line towards saving his son, and lining it with snarling gangster dogs and morally lax cops round every corner blocking Vincent from his goal. Rumbling round every inch of the club, Tomer Sisley gives a terrific, adrenaline fuelled performance as Vincent, who Sisley keeps running piecing himself back together after each scrap over an endless night.

Wow, the French certainly know how to make their thrillers! Following from the excellent crime/suspense/thriller POINT BLANK comes SLEEPLESS NIGHT, a film whose major storyline takes place in a single nightclub in a single night. Into this setting are thrown a roguish hero, his partner, good cops, bad cops, gangsters, drug dealers, a kidnapped kid, henchmen, and a few hundred revellers. What could possibly go wrong?

Nothing, it transpires - at least in terms of film-making. Because, believe me, this is exciting, excellent stuff, up there with the best of the 'intense thriller' genre (which includes films such as THE MAN FROM NOWHERE, NO WAY OUT, the BOURNE trilogy, etc). There isn't a great deal of fighting - apart from one frenetic bust-up - but the editing is super-fast and the storyline never lets you go for a second. The amount of energy that's gone into this movie is spectacular indeed.

By the time the film ends you feel up as exhausted as the hero did, because this is tight, focused, compelling and however else you'd like to describe it. Great acting, great cinematography, a film made by people who know exactly what they're doing and how to deliver a knuckle-scraping, heart-pumping thrill-ride of a movie. I couldn't rate it more highly and I can't wait to see it again...and again...and again.

Like in his two previous movies , 'The Burma Conspiracy' and 'Largo Winch', Tomer Sisley delivers a solid performance; he is convincing, pulls you into his character's corner and you will not only be rooting for him, you will feel his pain. As much as I enjoyed the previous two films of Sisley, I was no less engaged here. The movie's premise is simple, at least at the onset, but then it gets complicated in just the right measure, as any good thriller ought to. Also, as you'll find in several top French action thriller, the line between good and bad cop gets a little blurry, creatively speaking (that's good); there are no good guys, you might think, only innocent bystanders.

Sisley plays a motivated man like you would expect any 'father trying to rescue his son' type character should; however, this movie brings it to an even higher plateau. You are convinced his character is a cop turned bad, like so many classic cop characters do, and this is strategically intended; he's not. It is easy to miss this important fact, with all the tense action and intense bad guys, and I almost did. At that point, you are even more compelled by the story, but if you don't pay attention, you just might remain unaware he was a good cop until the end when it becomes clear he was a hero times two.

The very high ratings by critics indicate to me they have not missed any of those details. But fear not, regardless if the fast paced action scenes prevent you from catching the little clues, it can still work thanks to a fine 'dénouement' ending; nonetheless, I hope you catch all the clues. Don't drink Red Bull or anything of the sort while viewing this highly charged film; it may be harmful to your health. On the other hand, if you do, you won't miss any of the smart twists.