Midnight Madness at TIFF this year certainly got Hollywood buzzing. Among the titles earning chatter among suits and audiences alike were “Kill List,” “The Day,” “You’re Next,” of course “The Raid,” which is getting a Hollywood do-over, and French thriller “Sleepless Night” which yes, is also being remade (courtesy of Warner Bros). Hopefully someone will actually distribute the latter film on this side as, judging by the French trailer for the film uncovered by Twitch, it looks like a pretty exciting little genre flick.
Directed by Frederic Jardin, the film tells the story of an undercover cop who has to get his son back from a drug dealer/club owner. But his plan is immediately complicated when he loses the duffel bag of cocaine he was going to use as a bargaining chip. Complicating matters, he stole the drugs with his partner in a botched job that left him stabbed and now he has to find the bag, dodge the dealers and Internal Affairs, in addition to saving his son. Yes, it’s highwire, but that’s par for the course with these kinds of B-movies and the trailer promises a pretty gritty piece of work.
As we said, there is no stateside release date but if you happen to find yourself in France, the film opens on November 16th. Full synopsis and trailer below.
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 Sleepless Night, 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.
