The Guilty

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!)

"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-

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.

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.

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...