Benutzerrezensionen

Considering all the action is taking place in one room and happens via phone call in Danish language, it's incredible how it keeps you on the edge of your seat with strong character development, great acting and intriguing plot twists

Your imagination makes this movie. It's like a book. Asgers works at the 911 (112) emergency call, he gets a call from a woman being kidnapped. The film made me angry, disgusted, sad and so on.. Asgers character development was surprising. Really liked it, proud to be a dane.

In the vein of Locke, this super low-budget but effective thriller had me on the edge of my seat. It had the appropriate twists and turns to keep the audience guessing. It played with my emotions and had me in tears. How come Danish films are often just so good?

Unfolding in real time, this immediately involving story bends and turns in surprising, sometimes horrifying ways. Enriched by Oskar Skriver's marvelous sound editing, which takes us from a speeding van to a bloodcurdling crime scene with equal authenticity, the movie smoothly blends police procedural with character study. What's happening on the end of Asger's phone line is gripping enough, but what's happening inside his head - illuminated by Jasper Spanning's almost abusive close-ups - is every bit as fascinating.

I watched the Netflix film first, and then thanks to the reviews on that one, discovered this Danish original and watched that too.

The Netflix film is a taught and effective thriller, with a great central performance from Jake Gyllenhaal. It's mostly word-for-word the same as the Danish version. And it's free if you have Netflix!

The Danish version is £2.99 on Amazon. It's less stylish and less melodramatic, but much more believable and affecting. I cared more for all the characters, and despite knowing exactly how it was going to play out, I was hooked throughout. At times I couldn't look away.

The Netflix film adds an unneccesary personal arc, some wildfire-related melodrama, and a set more like a James Bond MI5 office than a 911 (or 112) call centre - all of which reduced the impact and made the film less engaging.

If you're definitely not going to watch the Danish version, the Netflix one is a good bet. If you're ok to watch either, choose this original - it's a lot more suspensful and completely captivating. (Ideally, unlike me, don't watch both!)

I watched this in theatre, and when it finished I found out that I didn't finish my overpriced beer. Haven't been this engaged in a movie in a while 10/10!

Jakob Cedergren plays a police officer assigned to a 911 call center who receives a call from a woman who has been kidnapped. The call center is the set for the entire course of the film. The tension is Hitchcock like with enough twists and turns to keep the viewers attention. At 85 minutes the movie moves quickly and the conclusion is a bit disappointing but I recommend The Guilty.

With an amazing actor in Jacob Cedergren, the director and crew of this film has pulled off what appears to be one of the best low-budget movies ever made.

The movie is immensely exciting, and deserves to be world famous. Everything about this movie is perfect, and shows that you don't need deep hollywood pockets to make an amazing movie.

Extra points for having a great trailer without spoilers, seems like this is a hard thing to do for most producers nowadays...

I watched this at the festival where after the projection we had a QA session with the director.

The Film itself is technically impressive, all framed within 2 rooms where all you'll see is the main character at the phone and very little more. This is not a limitation but instead the strength of the Movie itself; it's all about guided imagination. The dialogues push your figurative skills to build this outdoor world that is intentionally not shown to you.

There has been a lot of background work/preparation for this Film and it's all visible in the final product.

The director did a great job alternating long moments of high tension with some short funny ones to engage the audience.

I do consider this Movie very unique and original but you might find some similarities with Locke and perhaps also Phone Boot where a series of phone calls is the actual stage.

Unmissable title for 2018

Bravo!

Had to turn off the movie after 30 minutes.

Having worked in Copenhagen Police for 7 years patrolling and with almost daily visits to dispatch I got so annoyed that apparently no research was done on how emergency service and dispatch works. If a case like that happens there would always be several people involved from the get go. The emergency caller can always stay on the phone and he's writing updates on a computer that dispatch can see (they are also in the same room). There's always a good and helpful vibe between colleagues as it's in everyone's best interest to solve the task given. The way the colleagues communicate in the movie is simply so far from reality.

I'm obviously fully aware that this is fiction and drama. But when choosing a narrative that tries to look authentic - you should at least make a better effort to make it authentic.

This is so far off - unfortunately!

Had the chance to see the movie weeks prior to its official release on ocotbre 18th here in Switzerland at the Zurich Film Festival.

I'm usually not a fan of crime/thriller movies but this one has earned a special place in my heart. The simple premise (police officer with troubling past, has to work at the emergency hotline, just when his shift ends a woman who is being abducted reaches his line, the chase begins) took me in immediately and didn't let up until the end credits showed. The movie has two main plots: The abducted woman and Asger Holm's (main character, police officer) past. In the beginning we do not know much about either plot, but as the movie goes on more and more secrecy is peeled off. Both stories have their climax at the very same moment and make that moment in the movie all the more dramatic.

So much about the plot, on to the cinematography and other technicalities:

The whole movie takes place in the emergency phone central of Kopenhagen Denmark and is filmed in two rooms, the main office and a smaller one desk room. Lots of closeups of the main character let us really get into his head. The story of the movie is told only through phonecalls that he makes to a number of people all involved in the abduction. The movie was shot in only 13 days, which makes the cinematography even more impressive; all the shots have a purpose and hit their beats excellently. Feelings and character development is mostly conveyed through facial expression and dialogue. The sound design is on par with the acting, exciting at highpoints and subtle in quiet moments but always present.

The plot stays quite unpredictable for a long time and even if you have a hunch, some details about it may still come as a surprise.

Very good first time experience, however I am unsure about the rewatchability. On the other hand I still like to rewatch Fightclub, Memento and Shutter Island as well.

Let me first say this is my first user review on IMDB. After watching this masterpiece of a movie at the cinema tonight, I just had to! Its so intense and as you watch it you get pictures in your head and it feels like your right in there all the way. Now these days you often or almost never see a good movie at the theaters. Most films are mostly computer effects and bad acting. BUT this guys is world class acting and production! A must for everyone who likes quality over quantity

The director does a wonderful job of creating vivid pictures just by sound. He does not miss out not only content and information from human voice but also small details in the backdrop such as noises that a car makes, pace of breath, or raindrop.

Script in general is captivating enough, but there are many holes in the storyline. For the first half, when suspense is building up and tension is getting high, many factors pause that process, thus resulting in insipdness. I know it's important to show Asger's emotional and passionate side of him, but I believe the director should have chosen thriller side or drama side more clearly and decisively. Asger acquires plate number but spends the whole time talking to Mathilde. Him talking to Michael can be deleted, and it would not affect the story. His co-workers at the emergency center keep interrupting him as well. Chopping off unimportant events and trimming the storyline could have made the film move faster and made audience focus more intently.

I like a small detail of lighting switching from white to red after revealing event, emitting whole different atmosphere of Asger's face.

Like most of the films I watch, I know very little about them other than 1. Genre and 2. Rating. To be fair, the premise and unfolding of "The Guilty" seemed implausible. Would the Danish 911 service actually let the dispatcher behave that way? I know in America such behavior wouldn't fly at all, but this is Denmark, so maybe they're a little looser with their laws there. The acting was top notch especially considering it was basically a one-man show. Could've been dull but it wasn't. This is one of those flicks that a film student could learn from, that is, how to create an intriguing movie with VERY limited actors and settings but still be interesting to watch. By that token, "The Guilty" hits its mark. Story-wise? Well, that's a kind of difficult pill to ingest.

The Guilty is one of the best films of the year. Best described as Rear Window meets The Detective Story, it follows a former cop, who is now an emergency call center operator. There are so many revelations that it would be a crime to spoil it for you. So suffice it to say, GO SEE IT! If you love movies then you simply must see this one!

Making the most of its minimal setting & limited resources to deliver a tense, taut & thrilling delight that definitely ranks amongst last year's finest films, The Guilty is an increasingly unnerving, consistently engaging & downright sophisticated thriller from Denmark that's expertly crafted, tightly plotted & neatly executed. It may look simple in structure but beneath its surface lies a finely layered tale of emotional baggage & moral conflict that imparts an additional weight to its drama while slowly elevating the tension to never-wracking levels.

My Rating : 6/10

Crisp and creative, reminded me greatly of 12 Angry Men except here we have 1 guilty man. 'The Guilty' is tense, gripping and truly an impressive feat for a movie that takes place at a 911 emergency call centre and has mainly the one actor talking on the phone the entire time. It is not so much about what is shown on screen but what imagery the viewer conjures up in their minds that makes it a really enthralling watch.

Aren't we all guilty of something or the other we've done in our past?

I rented this movie on Google Play not realising that it was a subtitled Danish movie. I was incredibly surprised at how this film hooked me in from beginning to end. The movie is basically a police officer taking emergency dispatch calls whilst under investigation. I won't say more as it will give away some of the plot. It has the hallmarks of the movie "Phone Booth" starring Colin Farrell which was basically a man on a phone in a phone booth for most of the movie. Both movies prove that you don't need multiple expensive sets or special effects to make a good movie. If you have a good story, actors and a director you can do anything on a shoestring budget.

The Guilty is a good movie with just a main character and place. Actually it is best movie in its type since I have seen Locke. These two have so similar things like main characters are talking to phone everytime, they are consoling children etc. Also this movie is costless and thats a point which makes it better. It suprises you sometimes but I think it could has a better final. But I liked picturing the magic of words in final sequence. Finally, The Guilty is one of best European movies in 2018.

Why has the director done NO research into how serious crime is handled by emergency services? Unwatchable.

"The Guilty" is one of those one-man show movies that revolve around a single character in a single location working through some sort of dramatic situation. In this film, the character is a cop who's been put on 911 call center duty while he awaits trial for misconduct on the job. The way he handles the emergency that falls into his lap and the way he goes about making decisions, most of them bad ones, tells us a lot about him and how he probably ended up on trial in the first place.

Movies like this are always going to feel to a certain extent like gimmicks and will have to deal with the distractions that come with that (How will it maintain dramatic tension? How will it remain visually engaging?) This one uses a plot twist that serves to both throw the audience for a loop and reveal much about our main character, namely that he makes a whole heap of assumptions when dealing with a crisis scenario, not the best attribute for a police officer.

A slick, effective little thriller that's well worth your time.

Grade: A-