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How do you turn a hostage situation concerning cocaine, eviction notices, and Algerian assassins into a stage for bureaucratic ineptitude and slum reform? Ask Angelo Cianci because his film Dernier étage gauche gauche [Top Floor, Left Wing] does it and more. A darkly comic take on generally serious circumstances, a normal day in the life of bailiff François Etcheveria (Hippolyte Girardot) becomes one he’ll never forget. The first apartment of twelve on his list to evict and catalogue property for compensation, no one could have known Mohand’s (Mohamed Fellag) home would be hiding the kinds of secrets it is. One desperate maneuver by son Salem (Aymen Saïdi), though, lands Etcheveria in the bathroom, tied up by tape, and looking down the barrel of a gun.

Both action and comedy start right after an opening credit sequence shows our main players passing each other on the street. Mohand is coming home as the...

• One of my last screenings at this year's Critic's Week sidebar, Grown Ups is a sappy story about an imperfect father/daughter relationship that geographical takes place in the roughage offered in some Swedish connecting islands. Anna Novion's Swedish-French co-production had all the players in attendance including Jean-Pierre Darroussin.   Director Anna Novion   Director and lead actor.... Veteran actor Jean-Pierre Darroussin Typical French girl: Anaïs Demoustier   Demoustier (female lead) and Judith Henry (supporting actress) Swedish cast: Lia Boysen and Björn Gustafsson Nicolas Engel and fellow actress presented the short film La copie de Coralie, a musical set in a photo copy shop....

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