Lured out of retirement by the promise of rich loot, an ageing gangster unites a band of suitable accomplices. For weeks they prepare the attack on a van transporting a fortune. On the day of the attack, all goes according to plan but for one pesky detail : the gangsters get photographed by a young press photographer who happened to be in the neighborhood. Now their deeds are immortalized in a fine series of crystal-clear images...
"Quand la ville s'éveille" is a violent gangster movie set in Paris. The performances are good, the urban locations are used in an effective way and the fights and stunts are well-choreographed. The music, composed by the great Astor Piazzolla, successfully evokes an atmosphere of smoke-filled nightclubs and louche gambling dens.
The plot revolves around the young photographer's refusal to share his photographs with the police. Instead he uses the photographs for a strange cat-and-mouse game - perhaps because he sees himself as a rebel, perhaps because he relishes being a jerk, perhaps because he smells an opportunity to make money ? I never grasped his full motives and I suppose I'm not the first viewer to feel that way. So this seems like a minus in an otherwise accomplished movie.
I found the last few minutes strangely affecting.
"Quand la ville s'éveille" is a violent gangster movie set in Paris. The performances are good, the urban locations are used in an effective way and the fights and stunts are well-choreographed. The music, composed by the great Astor Piazzolla, successfully evokes an atmosphere of smoke-filled nightclubs and louche gambling dens.
The plot revolves around the young photographer's refusal to share his photographs with the police. Instead he uses the photographs for a strange cat-and-mouse game - perhaps because he sees himself as a rebel, perhaps because he relishes being a jerk, perhaps because he smells an opportunity to make money ? I never grasped his full motives and I suppose I'm not the first viewer to feel that way. So this seems like a minus in an otherwise accomplished movie.
I found the last few minutes strangely affecting.