David Saracino

The banlieues of Paris are burning, and as a young girl from the slums attempts to elude police by hiding out at a sprawling inn near the Luxembourg border she becomes locked in a vicious battle for survival against a group of Neo-Nazi fanatics intent on using her to start a new Aryan brotherhood. As the votes cast in the latest election are tallied, it quickly becomes apparent that an extreme right-wing party has been elected into power by a wide margin. In the aftermath of the announcement, the streets fill with protestors and riots erupt all throughout the country. Yasmina is a poor girl who has never known a life outside of the ghetto, and she sees the riots as an opportunity to stage a series of smash-and-grab robberies that could provide her with the money needed to improve her lot in life. After rounding up a few pals and robbing a few businesses under the cover of the chaos, Yasmina and her friends are pursued by the police and forced to split up. Before they part ways, however, they all agree to regroup at an inn just outside of Luxembourg. The proprietors of the inn are the Von Geisler clan. Led by a tyrannical, jackbooted patriarch, the Von Geisler's are a curious lot who at first appear to be stuck in the past. But the Von Geisler's aren't just eccentric, they are devoted Neo-Nazis with a twisted fantasy of starting a new master race -- and they have chosen Yasmina as their Aryan Eve. Now, in order for Yasmina to escape a grim fate as a fascistic breeding machine, she and her friends must fight for their lives against the brutish Von Geisler boys and their savage sisters in a vicious battle that will transform this once peaceful inn into a blood soaked abattoir. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Djamel Bensalah's comedy Once Upon a Time in the Oued stars David Saracino as Yacine, a young man attempting to get out of the marriage his parents have arranged for him. As he sets off for a summer with his family in Algeria, he and his best friend Johnny (Julien Courbey), meet a pair of women who the twosome flirt with. Johnny wants nothing more than to play football for the Algerian national team, and Yacine's younger brother must face a rather painful tradition. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

A woman on her own finds herself taking a second chance at love, with hilarious results, in the comedy from France. Odile Rousselet (Chantal Lauby) is a well-regarded if not exactly famous actress whose ongoing midlife crisis kicks into high gear when her teenage daughter, Marie (Armelle Deutsch), tells her she's moving out of the house, and in with her boyfriend, Guillaume (Christophe Debonneuil). Understandably upset, Odile finds herself troubled not only by her anxieties about her daughter, but by her own loneliness. However, Odile's attitudes begin to change when she meets Kader (Jean-Pierre Martins). A handsome younger man who runs a ride at a local fair, Kader catches Odile's eye, and she finds herself feeling as giddy as a schoolgirl when he's around -- and has even more trouble controlling her feelings when Kader responds in kind. Laisse Tes Mains sur Mes Hanches was written and directed by leading lady Chantal Lauby; it was her first feature film. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A woman looking for love finds a man who leads her into a life of crime in this thriller. Carla (Emmanuelle Devos) is a woman in her mid-twenties who works as a secretary in a real estate office. More cute than pretty, Carla is shy by nature, and the fact that she has a hearing problem has made her all the more withdrawn. While she longs for a relationship with a man, she finds herself living vicariously through her friend Annie (Olivia Bonamy), a single parent who dates often while Carla babysits her child. Carla makes the acquaintance of Paul (Vincent Cassel), a rough-hewn small-time criminal who has just been released from prison on parole. While Carla ought to know better, she finds herself strongly attracted to Paul, and Paul responds in kind. But before long, it becomes obvious that Paul is having an influence on Carla's normally stable nature; eager to get even with a co-worker who had wronged her, Carla persuades Paul to steal one of her company's files, which makes things more than a bit difficult for Carla's rival. Carla and Paul's actions go from malicious to seriously criminal when Paul hatches a scheme to rob a nightclub owner to whom he owes money -- a scheme that involves Carla's keen skill as a lip reader. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide