The Gamblers

Les Mauvais Joueurs

Director
Frédéric Balekdjian
Cast
Pascal Elbé (Vahé), Simon Abkarian (Sahak), Isaac Sharry (Toros), Linh-Dan Pham (Lu Ann)
Date
2004
Duration
85 Minutes

Set in Paris’ garment district, The Gamblers follows the daily grind of Vahé (Pascal Elbé). His father’s family store is riddled with debts, the scams he carries out with his brother Toros and friend Sahak continually disappoint, and his live-in girlfriend Lu Ann has just left him. When her illegal immigrant brother Yuen comes into conflict with Vahé’s gang, he finds himself torn between his values and his loyalties and is forced to cross the line.

Writer-director Frédéric Balekdjian’s first feature is a gritty urban thriller, which focuses on the immigrant struggle in France’s capital and merits comparison to Scorsese’s Mean Streets and Frears’s Dirty Pretty Things. The film boasts an accomplished cast in the likes of Simon Abkarian (Ararat and a Klapisch regular) and Linh-Dan Pham (Indochine, The Beat That My Heart Skipped).