Burn Out Review - Gritty, Edgy, A High Octane Thrill Ride

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Category: Indies, Docs, Foreign Film

Published on Thursday, 28 June 2018 21:37

Written by Janet Walker

Burn Out, from 24 25 films and WY Productions presents a powerful contemporary drama set inner city Paris, where the local dealers hold neighborhoods hostage, turf wars are common and dreamers still strive and fight to find a way out.

Co-written and directed by Yann Gozlan, Burn Out stars Francois Civil, Oliver Rabourdin, Manon Azem, Samuel Jouy and is also co-written by Guillaume Lemans.

Burn Out begins with Tony, played by Francois Civil, of Call My Agent fame, a professional superbike motorcycle driver attending a BMX Stunt Show with his son, which has the riders doing in air summersaults, hi-flying jumps and other daredevil acts.

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A professional superbike racer in training, Tony is set on making the team trials, which means speed racing practice every day. Of the four in training, he is expected to make the team despite his age. His dedication drives him, his dream sustains him through the trenches of mundane day jobs, no personal life and limited disposal income.

Tonight was a rare moment he could spend genuine time with his son who lives with his mother, Leyla, played by Manon Azem, and Tony’s ex. His dreams didn’t sustain her.

When they get to her apartment, the entire place has been ransacked, furniture cut up, and she’s crying. She was storing drugs for the local dealer, and it was stolen. Now, she needs 50K by the end of the week or they will kill her.

Tony, takes the two back to his place where they try to think of a plan to save her from the local gypsy underworld. A childhood friend, Moussa, played by Narcisse Mame, also deals and essentially controls the projects and this neighborhood explains the men he saw coming out of Leyla’s building.

The new crew, a gypsy band of French-Russian mobsters, who work more like an American mafia, are out 50K in cocaine and now someone will have to handle the debt. They are moving into everyone’s territory trying to find a weaker dealer to take out and take control.

Tony decides to risk a meeting. Once they see his fire engine red Ducati they tell him he can work off the debt by making a month of drug runs. So he agrees.

This is the pivoting point in the film setting up the second act. Of course, helping his ex-girlfriend, and the mother of his child, doesn’t come without consequences. Soon his 200mph, high speed, drug deliveries are taking a toll and a fast moving montage of days and nights, deals and drugs, blend while he attempts to maintain life, sanity and future.

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Burn Out paints a picture of Paris, far from the glittery lights of tourists mecca, to the gritty life in urban Paris, to rent controlled housing, where life is dodging drug dealers and the menu of offerings, just like life in many urban cities, south-central, the Bronx, Chi-raq, the world and the fast track, the drugs and money.

Francois Civil, whom American audiences may know from the dysfunctional and hilarious Call  My Agent, takes a serious turn in Burn Out and nails the role. His character has a perfect arch and he flawlessly moves through the demands of the deal he makes with the local devil. He delivers a powerhouse performace.

Burn Out, which had its North American premiere at the 2018 COLCOA Film Festival, is now streaming on NetFlix. 

Burn Out is a solid suspense drama. A high octane, adrenaline rush, with fast bikes, daredevil driving, and an ending that is shocking and beyond expectations. In French with English subtitles. Stream it now.