Syndikatet

La French

It’s more like Heat, only with more smoking and bigger sideburns.

If its shape and trajectory are quickly mapped out, Jimenez hauls in punchy story and character beats...

The junkies, as expected, are the real show, and it's here that Gelber's theatrical predilections emerge, less that Barton Fink feeling and more The Iceman Cometh.

...gratifying and immersive enough, with the nerve and energy to deliver a steady stream of violent entertainment.

Then and now, jazz improvisations pass as both virtuosic displays and also a means to self-expression: the film asks again and again what self might be expressed and what truths might be found in these and other performances.