A grieving woman pursues a couple who she suspects of killer her son in a hit-and-run.
The title of “Moka,” an elegantly lean, low-temperature thriller from Swiss writer-director Frédéric Mermoud, turns out to be less enigmatic than it sounds: It’s the color — a neutral, creamed-coffee hue of 1970s vintage — of the car responsible for the unseen hit-and-run that sets its intriguingly hesitant revenge plot in motion. That’s a fitting name for a film that paints largely in subtle, in-between shades, as grieving mother Emmanuelle Devos finds herself torn between impetuous fury and more calculated psychological warfare in tracking down those responsible for her teenage son’s death. A Chabrol-like slow burn more concerned with fine character crinkles than grand narrative revelations, this Locarno premiere is complicated considerably by Devos’ ever-astute, ambiguous presence; though it’s more sleek than sensational, “Moka’s” classical genre impulses give it a shot at international distribution. (Variety Review)
2017/09/22 - 2017/09/24
All Saints Cinema
918-1/2 Railroad Ave., Tallahassee, FL 32310
Free parking.