THE GRAVITY

The crime-ridden Parisian banlieues are familiar from films such as La Haine and Les Miserables, but French-Burkinabe director Cedric Ido surprises us by mixing his story of ghetto delinquency with an unlikely element: science fiction. At its centre are brothers Daniel (Max Gomis) - a professional athlete whose wife is urging a rapid move to Canada - and Joshua (Steve Tientcheu), the wheelchair-bound drug kingpin with a terrifying personality. Tension mounts when their former friend Christophe (Jean-Baptiste Anoumon) returns from prison, looking for whoever grassed him up and enraged by the sight of new young dealers delivering to his old customers. But something else is happening, ignored by these self-styled Ronin. Up in a reddening sky, the eight planets are aligning, sending gravity haywire - and nobody knows what will happen next. This genre-busting movie mixes French urban drama with a Japanese anime aesthetic to create something unique, extraordinary and beguiling.