Twenty-eight-year-old Tom leads a life following the footsteps of his father who made his money from dirty, and sometimes brutal, real estate deals. He seems destined to stay rooted in this petty end of the criminal world until a chance encounter with his late mother's music agent rekindles a desire for a musical career and hope for a better life.

Sensing that this might be his final opportunity to take back his life, he throws himself into music lessons with a Chinese piano virtuoso who has recently come to live in France. She speaks no French, and he speaks no Chinese, the common language is music.

But then his dubious past comes to light...

A nifty piece of work - with, by the way, a fantastic musical score and soundtrack - that, if there's any justice in the movie world, will eventually earn a mystique all its own. - Washington Post

At once a violent morality tale and a superior example of genre filmmaking - Edinburgh Film Festival