Frederic Balekdjian Movies
- 2008
One man's past is putting obstacles in the way of his son's future in this drama from writer and director Frederic Balekdjian. Marc (Edouard Bare) is a criminal on the run from both the law and his cohorts; he rents a farmhouse in a small rural community where he lays low with his twelve-year-old son Noe (Anton Balekdjian). Marc is convinced that one of his many enemies will come after him, so he's training Noe to help him fight off anyone who invades their new compound, and every evening after Noe comes home from school his father drills him in various forms of combat and self-defense drills. Noe has not been encouraged to make new friends at school, and while he strikes up a friendship with Marine (Nassereba Keita), a girl in his glass who he helped stand up to a bunch of bullies, he realizes he can't tell her much about his life or his family without putting his dad in grave danger. In time, Noe becomes increasingly curious about Marc's life of crime, and sets out to learn just what his father has done. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
The young French writer-director Frederic Balekdjian makes his feature bow with The Gamblers (Les mauvaises joueurs), a gritty urban crime drama and coming-of-age tale that has borne favorable comparisons to Scorsese's Mean Streets, Robert Mulligan's Bloodbrothers, and James Toback's Fingers. Pascal Elbe portrays Vahe, a con man running scams in the Parisian garment district with his buddies, whose sensitive conscience outstrips his career. After Vahe's girlfriend splits, he befriends her illegal immigrant brother, Yuen - and soon becomes enmeshed in a bitter dispute between the young man and the smugglers demanding extra recompense for slipping Yuen into the country undeterred. Torn in half, Vahe - who teeters on the threshold between compassion and dishonest manipulation, between honoring his friends and honoring his fellow con-men - struggles to determine his values and his loyalties, before all hell breaks loose. Simon Abkarian and Isaac Sharry co-star. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pascal Elbe, Simon Abkarian, (more)
