Nickel and Dime

Making like a modern Pagnol, Karmann offers a winning and sympathetic picture of a criminally inclined working class neighbourhood of Paris. It chronicles a bad week for amateur actor Francis (Gamblin). A robbery with his comically enthusiastic keep-fit fanatic and hopeless gambler pal Didier (Cornillac) goes wrong, but recently released con Jacques (Lanvin) is determined on reform and therefore reluctant to help the damned fools out. Instructive but never moralistic, the writer/director has a keen eye for the workings and rough comedy of social interaction, be it at home or more likely in the pool halls, clubs or bars of the locale, and encourages fine, lively ensemble performances from his cast, while incorporating a contextual understanding of the darker realities of these lives with the lightest of touches.