Nessieldwi Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Hayden Kane There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

scottcarberry66 I cannot help thinking of the cliché of a book being better than the movie after viewing this film. This film is so bereft of dialog that it could only make more sense as an interior monologue of a character in a novel. This lack of dialog is only beaten out by the utter lack of anything happening. Do not for one minute believe anything or anyone who suggests that there is any passion between these characters. I can only surmise that watching senior citizens watch MATLOCK re-runs is far more erotic than this film. The premise is boring, the execution is boring, the actors appear only half-interested. I'm sure they wanted to bring more fire to their characters but were held back by the director's need to ensure that this film would memorable for the time it wastes of everyone involved.

Red-125 Vendredi Soir (2002), directed by Claire Denis, is a film about tworesidents of Paris who come together because of a horrendous,citywide traffic jam. The movie is slow and deliberate, but notboring. The film's power derives from the interaction of twoattractive strangers who are temporarily trapped--and yetliberated--by the fact that mass transit is shut down, and autotraffic has come to a standstill.Valérie Lemercier portrays Laure, a young woman who has left herapartment to move in with her lover. Ms. Lemercier owes a greatdebt to Ms. Denis, who could have cast the part with a moretraditionally beautiful woman. (In the U.S., the role would probablyhave gone to Demi Moore.) Instead, the director chose an actorwho is undeniably beautiful, but in an interesting, complex way. Lemercier is an outstanding actor, and she is given enough timeon screen to demonstrate her professional skills.Don't see this film if you're looking for excitement, graphic sex,violence, or a strong narrative story line. See this film if you want toview Paris--and human relationships--portrayed in a serious, butalmost dreamlike, lyrical, fashion.

Howard Schumann In an American film, picking up a stranger hitchhiking in Paris during a transit strike would lead to rape, murder, or perhaps endless hours of superficial talk. Friday Night, the latest film by Claire Denis (Beau Travail, Trouble Every Day), shows it simply as a one night stand without moralizing or psychological evaluation. Based on a novella by Emmanuelle Bernheim and supported by an original score by Dickon Hinchcliffe and exquisite cinematography by Agnes Godard, the film is rich in poetic and surrealistic touches. Though there is very little conversation, communication is intimately conveyed by a warm smile, a gentle touch, a knowing glance. We know nothing about either of the characters, where they come from, what they think, what they feel, yet they provide a stand in for our fantasy about that one romantic night with a perfect stranger. Laure (Valerie Lemercier) has packed up her belongings and is ready to move in with her boyfriend. On a Friday night, on the way to dinner with a friend, she gets stuck in a nightmarish traffic jam caused by a transit strike in which the cars barely move. She listens to the radio commentator urging people to give others a lift. She dries her hair on the car heater, listens to music, watches the other car drivers, and rummages through her books whole waiting for the cars to move. She offers a ride to a handsome stranger (Gregoire Collin) but he says he would rather walk. When she gives a ride to a paunchy middle aged man named Jean (Vincent Lindon), her door is open literally and figuratively. When Laure gets out of the car to make a phone call, Jean assumes the wheel and zips through side streets until she tells him she wants to stop. They bicker, separate, but find each other again and discover their growing attraction. Without considering the effect it will have on her relationship with her boyfriend Francois, Laure agrees to rent a room with Jean for the night at an empty hotel managed by an inquisitive attendant. Before and after eating dinner at a local pizza restaurant, they make love in their room while the hand-held camera caresses isolated body parts in jumpy rhythms. There is gentleness and romance but the look on their faces does not reveal any exuberance. Friday Night has a playful feel but is ultimately too self-conscious to be fully convincing, lacking the element of passion or danger. It is Denis' minimalist Ode to Joy but the running, smiling figure of Laure at the end failed to convince me that the joy was genuine.

R. Nauta (rudymovie) This is more a comment on what I have read above, here, then on the film itself. However, to start with the film: I enjoyed it deeply, mostly as a kind of cinematographic painting, rather than as a story.The shooting is sometimes breathtaking, the camera very close upon the actors. Even the love scenes,in general often boring, are lifted to a higher level of "beauty" by this method. Associations, minds wandering, it is all there.... and the locations are more French, than most French people will realize. That hotel room, as a tourist I have seen so many run down hotel rooms, these views looked very familiar. Now my comments on the negative criticisms above: of course dozing away in a little "nap" is understandable . I dozed away for 5 minutes too, during the opening scenes in the traffic jam. But the lack of understanding of different kind of film making, of which this is a fine example, disturbs me. Poor movie-goers, not knowing any better, maybe too much influenced by the monopoly of Hollywood blockbuster and video production? What a pity. Or is it my age, having developed my taste in cinema in the 1970s , when it was normal to go and see a Fellini, Chabrol, or a Fassbinder around the corner here....And the Jaws and Rambo(s)were not so overexposed as a hype as they would now be.(see the Matrix-III drama). Be glad this is still made. Anywhere.