The Second Wind
Filmfest 2008

Gu, a famous gangster, has just escaped from jail. All the French police are after him. Before leaving the country with Manouche, the woman he loves, Gu needs a final job to get some money. The job works, but a police scheme makes Gu appear a traitor to his own accomplices. Gu will do whatever it takes to clear his honor... Second Wind takes a second look at the late Jose Giovanni's tale of honor, and the lack of same, among thieves, the first of which was Jean-Pierre Melville's 1966 adaptation starring Lino Ventura. As opposed to Melville's hard, pared-down telling, Alain Corneau's new version imposes an almost operatic conception on its delineation of the tragic destiny of an old-school criminal faced with new realities after a long prison stint. Todd McCarthy, Variety, Oct. 4, 2007