With a tour-de-force lead performance by Roschdy Zem, Paris by Night is a searing voyage into the depths of some of the City of Light’s darkest corners. Police commander Simon Weiss (Zem), head of the division that supervises Paris’s demi-monde, starts out on his nightly tour of bars, discos and strip clubs, making sure once again that the owners don’t bend the rules too far. Weiss knows he’s between a rock and hard place: it’s obvious that criminal gangs run rampant in his special domain, and even more obvious that they’re protected by higher-ups in the department. Paris by Night is the story of gradual grinding down of a good man, whose day-to-day acceptance of injustice will eventually have consequences. Zem brings an extraordinary dignity to his role: one can feel his years of dealing with the most depraved elements of society in the very way he walks.