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K
1997 Crime / Thriller
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Credits
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Director: Alexandre Arcady
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Script: Alexandre Arcady, Guy Konopnicki (novel), Antoine Lacomblez, Serge Raffy, Jorge Semprún
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Photo: Gerry Fisher
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Music: Philippe Sarde
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Cast: Patrick Bruel (Sam Bellamy),
Isabella Ferrari (Emma Güter),
Marthe Keller (Nora Winter),
Pinkas Braun (Joseph Katz),
Jean-François Stévenin
(Commissaire Cortès),
Dieter Kirchlechner (Hermann),
Dan Torjman (Yan),
Burkhard Heyl (Helmut),
Pierre Abbou (Ourt),
Keren Ann (Judith),
Richard Berry (Récitant),
Michal Bijio (Michal)
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Country: France
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Language: French
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Runtime: 135 min
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Summary
From childhood, Sam Bellamy has enjoyed the company of his chess mentor, Joseph Katz,
a Jewish survivor of the Nazi holocaust. One day, a German appears in Katz’s
shop. Recognising the man as one of his erstwhile tormenters, the Jew kills him.
Sam, a policeman, allows Katz to walk away, but it is not long before Katz’s pursuers
find him. Believing Katz to have perished in a gas explosion, Sam travels to Berlin
to try to discover who would want to kill his friend. There, he meets a young German
woman, Emma Güter, a communist sympathiser who sheds some light on the mystery.
Sam is then abducted by Nora Winter, a member of an Israeli commando unit which is tracking
down some missing art treasures. As Sam pursues his investigation, he unwittingly
becomes a pawn in a deadly game of international politics…
Review
The hugely popular singer-actor Patrick Bruel gives a respectable “hard man”
performance in this mix of hard-edged film noir and political thriller. It is one
of the better offerings from Alexandre Arcady, a director responsible for such trashy
box office hits as Le
Grand Pardon (1982). K compares
favourably with the much-loved French policiers
of the late 1970s, even if it is slightly too long and has an excruciatingly complicated
plot. If the film has one irredeemable fault it is that it attempts to bring too
many elements into its storyline - the connection it makes with the Gulf War appears not
only contrived but unashamedly gratuitous. This is a film which is clearly
intended for an alert and intelligent spectator. Providing you can keep up with
the fast moving narrative, it manages to be an effective thriller, even if most of the
main characters seldom depart from the familiar stereotypes. The film’s most
interesting character is an unscrupulous, barking mad Jew effortlessly played by Pinkas
Braun; the actor should find easy work as a James Bond villain after this film.
© James Travers 2005
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