Angel-A

2005 Director Luc Besson

This is a dark comedy from Besson and not just because it's been shot in black and white.

Jamel Debbouze (the shy grocer from Amelie) plays a bungling scam artist with a little too much good in his heart for his own good. As his debts mount and his gangland enemies close in he decides to jump into the Seine only to find a long legged blond girl about to do the same. They team up in a voyage of self discovery with surprising results.

Paris is always a good background to a film and the moody location shots work particularly well. Unfortunately, once you have discovered who Angela-A is the film loses its inertia and becomes increasingly predictable culminating in a disappointing end. If as much depth had been given to the supporting characters the whole thing would have been more believable.

It's worth seeing once and is not representative of Besson's other work.