blanche-2 I was very impressed with the acting in 2007's Counter Investigation," a French film directed by Franck Mancuso, who also co-wrote the script.Jean Dujardin gives a moving and strong performance as Richard Malinowski, a police detective whose young daughter is raped and murdered. A man, Daniel Eckmann (Laurent Lucas) is arrested but begins to write to Richard, claiming to be innocent. Upon investigation, Richard discovers that a serial killer of young children was in the vicinity at the time his child was killed.The story is good but I had it figured out right away, which sort of spoiled it for me. And my big problem was Malinowski leaving his daughter home alone. It's perhaps because I live in the U.S. and have seen too many true crime shows, but I was surprised when he did it.Laurent Lucas is handsome and underplayed his role as the imprisoned man. He does a wonderful job. He and Dujardin had the largest roles, but everyone was convincing. Agnes Blanchot, Jacques Frantz, Jean- François Garreaud, and Jean-Pierre Cassel rounded out a forceful cast.What was so right-on about the main characters is that one never knew what either one was thinking or was going to do next.Recommended.

Happy_Evil_Dude Through persistent correspondence over the course of three years and new elements in his possession, police captain Malinowski starts to doubt the man convicted for his 10 year old daughter's rape and murder is actually guilty and starts a counter-investigation on his own.Written and directed by ex-cop Franck Mancuso (also co-writer of the great 36 Quai Des Orfèvres), Contre-Enquête is a very good, well-made film, certainly the best French crime film of 2007 out of those I've seen so far (which include Le Deuxième Soufflé, Chrysalis and ex-top spot holder Pars Vite Et Reviens Tard). So-hot-right-now Jean Dujardin is very good in his first truly serious role I've seen, and the rest of the cast do a good job as well, especially Laurent Lucas as Daniel Eckmann, the convict. The script, based on a short story by Lawrence Block (screenwriter of Wong Kar-Wai's English-language effort My Blueberry Nights) is greatly written and keeps the suspense going and the viewer wondering until the very end. Good crime thriller, check it out if you have the chance.

marivaid The plot is somewhat simple - a policeman whose daughter was raped and murdered helps the man who is in jail for her murder to have his conviction overturned. (graeme-hayes, he is not "allowed to investigate",he's doing it on his own without his colleagues's approval)The movie itself was really good. It was nice to see Dujardin finally getting a role worthy of his talents. However, what really irked me were the similarities between this movie and the Patrick Dils case.For those who don't know, Patrick Dils was convicted of killing 2 boys when he was 16 years old, then his conviction was overturned 15 years later - and the fact that serial killer Francis Heaulmes was proved to have been in the area at the time and described the murder of the boys to the police several years before had a huge impact during his trial. Heaulmes,however,was never charged.There is no question that the movie, especially the part about the serial killer, was inspired by the Dils case. Same disease, same relationship with his mother... so it makes me wonder what was REALLY the point for the film makers ? Are they implying that Dils is in fact guilty and should still be in jail ? I happen to believe in Dils's innocence and that really left a bad taste in my mouth after watching this movie. Apart from that, it's possibly the best French movie of this genre that I've watched in the past few years. Certainly the best since Six Pack.

writers_reign One thing you can be sure of with Frank Mancuso is authenticity. An ex-cop himself, he co-wrote 36 Quai des Orfevres with another ex-cop, Olivier Marchal (who also directed) and based it on incidents in his own time on the force. This time around he has adapted an American novel by Robert Bloch but his movie is no worse for that. It's arguably more psychological thriller than pure policier but manages to retain its grip throughout. In a nutshell a cop's young daughter is killed and a suspect arrested, tried and imprisoned and this, as they say, is where the story really starts; with the prisoner - Monty Clift lookalike Laurent Lucas - initiating a correspondence from his cell with the father of the murdered girl, a correspondence he chooses to keep secret from his wife. Justice, albeit rough justice, prevails in the end but as always in life nobody really wins. Definitely worth seeing.