‘Night Call’ Review: Belgian Brawlers

When Mady (Jonathan Feltre), a young locksmith, shows up to his latest job, the vibe is fishy: His client, Claire (Natacha Krief), gives off the jitters of a conscious-stricken femme fatale. When it’s time for her to pay, she rushes in and out of the unlocked apartment, promising to return with cash.

Unsurprisingly, Claire never settles her bill, but “Night Call,” a breakneck urban thriller by Michiel Blanchart, doesn’t linger too long on this deception before gleefully pulling another rug from under poor Mady — this time in the form of a neo-Nazi brute whose apartment our hero, who is Black, has unintentionally invaded. Cue a bracingly choreographed brawl in close quarters.

The twists and tussles multiply from here on out, with the amiable, Petula Clark-loving Mady forced to undergo an action-hero transformation overnight. Without getting into too many spoilers, Mady’s crisis involves stolen cash and a vicious gang led by the French movie star Romain Duris.

“Night Call” isn’t a message film, though the realities that sparked the Black Lives Matter movement are used to shape the story, sometimes flimsily, sometimes cleverly. For instance, Mady finds himself in a pickle in part because he is wary of involving the cops. And because there’s a massive anti-police-brutality protest happening that night, officers are everywhere as Mady sprints, bikes and drives around Brussels. In Blanchart’s hands, the Belgian capital is a gritty nocturnal playground of bodegas, brothels and boîtes.

The film may be sticking to a familiar template, in which a regular Joe gets sucked into an underworld, but Blanchard’s snappy direction and the great mileage he gets out of the city’s nooks and crannies bumps it up the crime-action totem pole. If the finer details are forgettable, you’re sure to remember that it was at least a fun ride.

Night Call
Not rated. In French, with subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 37 minutes. In theaters and available to rent or buy on most major platforms.