Loosely based on a true story, this French/Russian-language political thriller directed by Jérôme Salle centers on a French cultural representative (Gilles Lellouche) arrested in Siberia on false charges, forcing him to plot an elaborate white-knuckle escape from the Russian secret police. The film is a gritty, fast-paced ride that will have you on the edge of your seat, even as you wonder to yourself how such a gross miscarriage of justice is even possible with the Cold War so far in the rearview mirror. Lellouche is brilliantly cast as a pseudo-schlub everyman, and the great Joanna Kulig shines as his accomplice.
4/5 stars