Programmer's Note

A gunshot shatters the early-morning silence on the streets of Paris as two men in balaclavas intercept a car on a drug run. In the rushed heist that follows, one of the drug carriers in the vehicle is shot. The other escapes, but not before getting a glimpse of one of the men unmasked.

The next day, one of the thieves, Vincent (Tomer Sisley of Largo Winch), is addressed as lieutenant in the bathroom at work. This reveal — that the robbers are really cops — is the first of many in Frédéric Jardin’s SleeplessNight, which peels back layers of deceit one by one as the film plunges forward.

Vincent’s bag of coke belongs to a nightclub owner named Jose Marciano (Serge Riaboukine). When Jose learns he’s been double-crossed by the police, he kidnaps Vincent’s son, using the boy as a means to reclaim his stolen property. He tells Vincent the stash must be returned to his club by the end of the night. No drugs, and the cop will never see his son again.

Vincent enters Jose’s club — a dizzying complex that heaves with music and crowds — unaware that he’s being tailed by a rookie female officer working the drug robbery. From here, he is plunged into a perverse labyrinth of corruption and betrayal as he races against the clock to save his child.

Sleepless Night is a lean, mean action film that moves at breakneck speed. Sharply choreographed chase sequences careen through the tight crowds in Jose’s extravagant club, slickly shot by cinematographer Tom Stern, who has worked with Clint Eastwood for nearly thirty years.

Sisley offers an emotionally raw performance as a cop on his most desperate mission, matched by often darkly comical turns from the many villains he’s trying to outrun. Jardin envisions his thriller as if set inside an M.C. Escher painting, its mystery twisting and looping in a seemingly endless puzzle.

This is an all-nighter of action: pop some caffeine and run headfirst into Jardin’s gritty world of good cops, bad cops and vicious drug dealers, all flashing under strobe lights and set to a throbbing techno beat.