La notte del 12

This movie follows a police crew trying to figure out a gruesome murder that happens for no obvious reason or motive.

The build up and atmosphere are great, keeping us engaged and wondering - who killed that young, charismatic girl? Acting is superb and the suspense keeps you on your toes till the very end with a climax that is adequate and realistic.

I am doing my best not to give away the whole plot or the ending so I'll just leave it at that.

Really worth checking out.

9 out of 10 from me.

Dominik Moll's talent is no longer to be demonstrated. Only The Animals (2019) was an impressive film with its dramatic structure and rich story. Here with The Night Of The 12th, the dramatic line of the film is more direct, traditional. With a femicide, the investigation, the suspects, the cops and their problems. The film is embodied by its characters, that is to say by its actors who give the required forms, first of all, to the policemen with Bastien Bouillon all in power, Bouli Lanners rather in nominal mode (he makes the same character in many films), but also and especially the complementary actresses, all of them characters who exist and bring a lot of emotions in a natural way. This natural way gives a documentary patina to the film, which we imagine well documented.

The tone of the film, all in objective description of the reality and emphasizing the human nature, is what makes the film exciting in spite of its subject, dark, just like the photography of the film. In particular this photography is dark and grainy. It embodies the climate, the darkness, the horrific fact, and the dark story, especially in the content of the end and the frantic search for the culprit very difficult to identify.

The crime film is dramatic, as is this story when we learn how this story ends. Moreover, one of the challenges of the film is to revive it with the character of the judge played by Anouk Grinberg. A character that did not exist before in the film, but that makes it even more hypnotic.

This is a fictional interpretation of an actual crime that sees newly promoted "Vivés" (Bastien Bouillon) take his team of Grenoble detectives to a small town to investigate a grisly murder. Walking home from a friend's house the previous morning, "Clara" (Lula Cotton-Frapier) is confronted by a stranger who throws a combustible liquid over her and then sets her alight. What the Police Justiciare have to work with is a ghastly sight. Their investigations quickly reveal no shortage of potential attackers. This girl had lived a "lively" life - unbeknownst to her parents - and her boyfriends ranged from the nerdy to the opportunist to the downright bad boy "Caron" (Pierre Lottin). Thing is, loads of suspects don't add up to loads of evidence and tempers amongst the team begin to fray as their lack of actual progress becomes frustrating, exasperating and personal. Although this has elements of a whodunit to it, it is essentially quite an interesting "fly-on-the-wall" style drama that illustrates the difficulties faced by an under-resourced team of officers who cannot but become involved in the heinous crimes they must try to solve. This film looks quite intensely at their own personal relationships and is frequently peppered with some dark humour and with contrary views on the victim that occasionally make it difficult for an on form Bouillon to handle. Bouli Lanners is effective here as his passionate sidekick "Marceau" - himself having his own share of domestic disasters, and as the narrative pans out we, too, are offered nothing concrete in which to hope! I didn't love the ending scenarios. The casualness, desperation even, seemed to fly in the face of so much of their previously meticulous police-work, but the lead performance is good, the cinematography potent and this is definitely worth a watch.

A new movie by Dominick Moll is to be seen, his movies being rich with surprising details. This night of the 12 is the police investigation about the violent death of Clara, a young woman who had love relations with real weird young men looking for dangerous sensations, as it often happens nowadays. Yes, the young people we see are not socially stable, most of them are real completely lost misfits. And it's quite frightening as Clara's parents are well established and happy together. This discomfort also happens in the police who has more and more difficulties to understand this new deranged society. And we understand how important are the methods for searching the unknown, and the judge played by Anouk Grinberg is important. In this realistic portrait of our modern society, the entire cast play wonderfully, with a special bravo to Bastien Bouillon as the determined police captain and Pierre Lottin as a frightening kind of hooligan.

When I first saw the trailer of this movie, I thought it would just be a typical and by the books thriller film. Safe to say that I was wrong.

The movie was able to keep me interested in general as the plot was immersive and really well put together. The film manages to be unpredictable at times and from the get-go it is creating a very tense and bittersweet ambience. It has been such a long time since a movie made me feel genuinely anxious and worried about characters.

The cinematography was amazing. This movie was shot in the region of Grenoble, a French city surrounded by mountains and they really used the landscapes to their advantage to create a beautiful and colourful movie. The scenery is sometimes breathtaking. Even indoors scenes were amazing.

The acting is great. From small appearance to main character, every actor gives a believable and strong performance.

Unfortunately the movie gets a bit tedious in the last 20 to 30 minutes with less rhythm and believable dialogues to me.

It is still an amazing thriller that keeps you gripped and intrigued for its vast majority. If the last 20 to 30 minutes were handled in a better way, I would give it an 8/10.