Violent Days

In an unspecified but decidedly post-1950s corner of Paris, a group of childish guys devote themselves to all things rockabilly while one of their masochistic girlfriends (Lunn) tags along and cleans up their messes. Using an oneiric palette of overexposed black-and-white, Chaufour’s feature debut stews convincingly in the banal claustrophobia of the gang’s activities (a long, badly navigated car trip comprises much of the run time), but just as the movie turns in a bracing new direction, it stops short. The result is at once distended and attenuated – the entire film feels like the prologue to another one.