crime-films

Nocturama review: French terrorism thriller feels eerily familiar

Most audiences will see this film's relevance to recent incidents of homegrown terrorism in Western Europe, but its protagonists defy easy categorisation.

The opening of the film is an almost wordless series of shots of young people moving around a sunny Paris via trains, footpaths and pedestrian tunnels. Their movements are precise and the editing conveys the idea they are acting in a coordinated way.

The "what" of the plan is soon terrifyingly evident, but the "why" is something the film leaves us to ponder.