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RELEASES France

Adrenaline-fuelled Point Blank hits screens

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"It’s an idea as old as the hills for telling stories: there’s the woman prisoner in the dungeon and the boy who must set her free": with Point Blank [+see also:
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, his second feature after Anything For Her [+see also:
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(670,000 admissions in France and a remake, The Next Three Days, helmed by US director Paul Haggis and co-produced by Fidélité Films), Fred Cavayé plunges full-throttle into an action thriller.

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Produced by LGM Cinéma (see news) and co-produced by Belgium’s Nexus Factory, Point Blank is being launched today by Gaumont in almost 310 French theatres. Although it hasn’t received unanimous praise, the film has won over many critics thanks to its ultra-edgy pace and impressive cast: Gilles Lellouche, Roschdy Zem, Gérard Lanvin, Mireille Perrier and Spanish actress Elena Anaya.

"We tried to find a way an ordinary bloke could end up linked to a real gangster, with no alternative but to join forces with him. And have to come up against policemen and mobsters with him. From there we came up with the idea of the hospital where this auxiliary nurse has to release this injured crook" explains Cavayé, who co-wrote the screenplay with Guillaume Lemans.

The director continues: "What will make our ‘hero’ run as quickly as possible? What will be the most anxiety-inducing situation for him? (…) It’s always more interesting when ordinary characters find themselves confronted with extraordinary situations. Viewers find it easier to identify with them (…) An auxiliary nurse who is prepared to do anything to save his endangered pregnant wife is closer to me than James Bond”.

As for the visual style of the action scenes in a film that doesn’t give the audience a moment’s respite, Cavayé explains that he wanted it "not to be syncopated, filmed from all axes, but for it to be fast and sharp, for it to hurt, for viewers to feel the blows dealt by the characters, for it to be realistic."

This Wednesday’s new releases also include Fabienne Berthaud’s poetic Lily Sometimes [+see also:
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, which stars Diane Kruger and Ludivine Sagnier and won acclaim in the latest Cannes Directors’ Fortnight (see reviewHaut et Court Distribution on 76 screens); Marc Esposito’s Mon Pote [+see also:
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(“My Mate”), featuring Edouard Baer and Benoît Magimel (Mars Distribution on 300 screens); and two documentaries: Toscan by Isabelle Partiot-Pieri (Sophie Dulac Distribution) and De Son Appartement by Jean-Claude Rousseau (pointligneplan).

The line-up also includes Benoît Philippon’s Canadian/French co-production Lullaby [+see also:
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(distributed by Studio 37 – Rezo Films); Gareth Edwards’s Brit film Monsters [+see also:
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(distribution: SND); and South African director Oliver Schmitz’s German co-production Life, Above All, a fine discovery in the 2010 Cannes Un Certain Regard section (ARP Sélection).

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(Translated from French)

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