The Beat That My Heart Skipped

Director Jacques Audiard’s Read My Lips was a surprise cross-Atlantic hit, showing that this French director could handle American-style film noir with a panache not seen since the death of Billy Wilder. Now he’s back with a re-make of James Toback’s 1978 cult hit Fingers, the story of a man torn between a life of crime and a life of music. Romain Duris plays Thomas Seyr, whose father is an aging gangster and whose deceased mother was a concert pianist. While Thomas watches in sorrow and concern as his dad becomes too weak to beat and rob people, Thomas feels a sudden urge to return to his musical roots, and begins to practice piano in preparation for an audition with a famed impresario. Unfortunately, he still has to keep up with his job of destroying the lives of the poor and needy. In the process, he risks injuring his fingers … but even more, he risks injuring his soul!