Movie Review: Feux Rouges/Red Lights

I don't know how widely this movie by French director Cedric Kahn, has been released here in the U.S. but...

It didn't knock my socks off. It was maybe good-to-middlin'.

Here's the scoop: An (unhappily) married couple start out on a road trip to pick their kids up from summer camp. They're bickering, he's drinking, she gets mad and leaves him when he stops in one bar too many. Leaves a note that says she's taking the train. So he's racing around from train station to train station trying to find her and meanwhile (conveniently) the news is reporting an escaped convict on the loose....

The movie starts out slow. There are some sluggish spots in the beginning with shots of cars on the road that I thought lasted too long but hey, it is a road-movie maybe he was tryin' to set the tone for monotony? It made it feel like we weren't getting anywhere for awhile. Maybe that's intentional 'cause the guy starts off annoyed at his wife for them getting off to a late start. (or am I stretching it?)

One of the reviews I read said what makes this film good is that it's not just a thriller, it's about an unhappy marriage. Well, no, not really. We don't know why this couple is unhappy and since after her disappearence they're not really together for most of the film, we don't really learn more about how they relate to each other after the initial bickering that provokes the woman to leave and take the train.

Another review compared it to Sluizer's Vanishing. Again, no way. The only thing they have in common is the someone disappears in both movies and someone else is looking for them. [Sluizer's film is probably my all-time favorite movie; I think it's incredible, so I'm dubious to any claims that something is similar to it.]