With a Friend Like Harry . . .

The relationship between the two former childhood friends in Chuck & Buck seems downright nurturing compared to that in this black and icy perversity by French director Dominik Moll. Harry (Sergi López, the thinking person's Andy Garcia) bumps into old school chum Michel (Laurent Lucas) by chance -- or is it? -- while Michel is vacationing with his squabbling family. At first pathetic in his attempt to get Michel to remember him, Harry becomes downright sinister as he tries to recement a bond that never existed. On the surface, he seems better off than Michel, who's struggling with a wife, three daughters, a dilapidated country home, and a balky station wagon -- the heir to a fortune, Harry tools around in a Mercedes with his girlfriend Plum. The trouble with this Harry, however, becomes increasingly apparent as he quotes by heart a terrible poem Michel published in the school magazine, or blithely buys him a brand new SUV, or takes even more drastic measures to ease Michel's family tensions. Ultimately his need strays into the twisted terrain of vintage Claude Chabrol. Although the film starts to fall apart at the same time Harry does, overall Moll has crafted a diabolically funny and subversive thriller. At the Avon.
-- Peter Keough