Abbes Zahmani Movies

Arthouse favorite Olivier Assayas followed up his critical darling L'Heure d'Été (2008) with this wildly different chronicle -- a biopic of the ultra-left-wing Venezuelan terrorist-cum-mercenary Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, popularly known as "Carlos the Jackal." As co-written by Assayas and scenarist Dan Franck, the account spans the years 1973-1994 -- or the period that witnessed Sanchez at his most violent and relentless. Narrative touchstones include the 1974 bomb attack at the Publicis Drugstore on Paris' Left Bank and the 1975 abduction of 11 OPEC officials from Vienna, as well as a torrent of assassinations that Carlos and his cronies planned but didn't carry out. As produced by Daniel Leconte, this telling of Sanchez's life stars Edgar Ramirez as the terrorist, as well as Alexander Scheer, Aljoscha Stadelmann, and Julia Hummer; it was predominantly shot in Germany, France, and Lebanon. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

This is a light comedy about Amir, a young Pakistani who has been working for Jo for six years. Jo has a ready-to-wear clothes shop in the Sentier area and his business is prospering. He promised Amir that he would help him get his legal papers, but he has never kept his promise. Now he is sending Amir to his colleague Ralph in exchange for an unpaid debt from a card game. He thinks that this is a good opportunity to get rid of the illegal worker. Ralph is a fifty-year-old baby who keeps forgetting his appointments, his bank balance, and everything else that he should remember to run his life smoothly. His business is a complete disaster. A year later, Ralph's business has picked up, but Joe's is going down the drain. Thanks to whom? It is easy to answer this question if one follows Amir during his daily chores in the shop. But neither Jo nor Ralph's bother to take the time off to notice the hard work of this poor employee. Even if they did, they would not admit that a Pakistani is behind the success of the business. Secretly, Amir hopes that one day he will finally get his legal papers, if not a simple 'thank you' from his employers. The film is another effort by one of the group of French filmmakers actively involved in the fight against racial discrimination in France. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, Rovi

Life is a Long Quiet River is the satirically philosophical title for this French domestic comedy. Borrowing a page from The Corsican Brothers, the film begins with a castoff mistress spitefully switching a pair of newborn babies at the maternity ward managed by her doctor lover. As a result, the daughter (Valerie Lalande) of a family of tramps and thieves is raised in a comfy bourgeois household, while the lowlife family ends up with the middle-class family's offspring (Benoit Magimel). Twelve years after the fact, the discarded mistress confesses to her misdeed. The mistress' ex-lover, doctor Daniel Gelin, tries to set things right, with hilariously disastrous consequences. Director Etie Chatiliez had received his training in French TV commercials, so it's not surprising that Life is a Long Quiet River is a string of anecdotes and punchlines. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi