This is an offbeat work,critically-acclaimed ,but hardly anybody went to see it.The title hardly pulls the crowd :a name ,when it is not a famous character ,does not sell tickets .
A gypsy community -although compared to Tony Gatlif's gypsies ,they do not really look the part ,except maybe Hasfia Herzi.
The acting is very good:Serge Riaboukine is particularly impressive as the Pentecotalist preacher :his first speech is so convincing he could convert an atheist;Guillaume Gouix , 28 at the time, is a little too old but his youthful looks make up for it;he plays his game well ,in this part of a young man torn between a demanding religion (he must give up on his passion,boxing ,he must marry a virgin ...)and life "temptations ";it's hard to be a saint in our times and pure religion (as atheist Bunuel showed many times in the past) may be a nuisance to live with at home .
A soft,light, version of German "Tore Tanzt " and " Kreuzweg" ,in which a young man and a young woman became entangled in religion which would cost them their life ,Jimmy Rivière (=River ;what a lovely name!) ,abetted by a girlfriend (the always reliable Herzi)who has her feet firmly on the ground and who is not prepared to accept to be abandoned for a virgin , unlike his German counterparts ,will find the river ,not the one in which he was christened,but the
one which flows to life ,everything going his way.
