Western Review

Western isn`t a western at all, but a French odd couple road movie set in western France, around Brittany. Interesingly, it centres on two foreigners who find themselves in this part of the world: Paco is from Spain and Nino from Russia. Paco, Sergi Lopez, is a shoe salesman; Nino, Sacha Bourdo, a penniless hitchhiker heading nowhere special after the breakup of his marriage. The two meet when Nino steals Paco`s company car, but the maladroit thief is soon caught and somehow the unlikely pair become friends..... When a woman Paco has befriended suggests a trial separation of three weeks to see if their relationship will endure, Paco and Nino take to the road together...This gentle, appealing film relies entirely on the disarming performances of its two principal actors - and since both Lopez and Bourdo are tremendously engaging characters, the risks taken by director Manuel Poirier pay off handsomely. Lopez as the attractive Paco, who has no trouble finding girls, is amusingly contrasted with the scrawny Bourdo, whose Nino is far less successful in the romantic stakes. If the film has a flaw it`s that, at 2 1/4 hours, it`s really much too indulgent. Crisper editing would greatly have enhanced the material. Nevertheless, Western is unquestionably a charmer of a movie.