Interstate (3 Stars)

This is the 30th film in the Stuttgart Fantasy Film Festival.

The film starts by introducing an Italian Mafia family in France. One of the family members has stolen money that belongs to the boss, so a hit man called Franck is sent to collect the money and kill him. The trouble is that the man is Franck's friend, so when he meets him he can't bring himself to kill him. Franck also goes on the run, not wanting to return to his boss.

Franck intends to drive to Belgium, but in a roadside restaurant he has a chance meeting with a student called Virgil and offers him a lift. At least, it seems like a chance meeting. Virgil has been stalking Franck for years. He's a serial killer, and he threatens to set Franck up as the killer if they don't become friends.

In itself the film is good, but too much is left unexplained.

The original French title is "Jour de Colère", i.e. "Day of Wrath". The English title makes no sense. An interstate highway is a road in America that links different states. This doesn't exist in Europe, because the countries are smaller and not divided into states. The roads that connect different European countries aren't called interstates. The film is a road movie, but it needs a different title. They could have stuck with "Day of Wrath".