Notícias

A reformed criminal goes on the run in The Hanging Sun, an adaptation of Jo Nesbo’s novel Midnight Sun. The author also co-writes the screenplay of this fiction feature debut from Francesco Carrozzini, the photographer who helmed the documentary Franca: Chaos and Creation. The closing film of Venice Film Festival, it’s well performed and gripping enough, though geographically confusing.

Filmed in northern Norway, where the novel is set, it stars an international cast, all speaking English with a variety of accents. Given that the conceit of the book revolves around 24-hour daylight at a certain time of year, the location is an honorable gesture, and handsomely filmed. But it’s hard to accept this as Nordic noir given the language and casting.

Italian actor Alessandro Borghi stars as John, a hitman who was adopted as a child and trained by a ruthless criminal, whose biological son (Frederick Schmidt) resents John. Their feud has come to a head now that John is trying to escape a life of crime, so he hides out in a remote religious community and meets Lea (Jessica Brown Findlay), the victim of an abusive husband (Sam Spruell).

With strong, understated performances from Borghi and Findlay, the unspoken attraction between John and Lea helps to keep the attention, as do the dramatic plot points, from suspicious deaths to chase scenes.

There’s also a sweet bond between John and Lea’s son Caleb (Raphael Vicas), who has developed an unusual way of speaking to cover up a stammer.

But the dramas feel familiar, and archetypes such as the abused wife, the trained killer and the fire-and-brimstone priest (Charles Dance) aren’t fleshed out enough to feel fresh. The Hanging Sun is a workable and good-looking thriller, but it stays on the surface rather than staying with you.

Peter Mullan and Charles Dance have joined the cast of “The Hanging Sun,” based on Jo Nesbø’s bestselling novel “Midnight Sun.”

Frederick Schmidt (“Angel Has Fallen”) and Raphael Vicas (“Grantchester”) are also boarding the production.

The Sky Original film is a U.K.-Italian co-production from Sky, ITV Studios’ Cattleya and Groenlandia. It will be broadcast on Sky in Italy, the U.K., Ireland, Germany and Austria.

The adaptation is written by Stefano Bises and directed by Emmy-nominated Francesco Carrozzini (“Franca: Chaos and Creation”).

“I am in the middle of filming and I could have not hoped for better. The cast is incredible,” Carrozzini told Variety.

“The Hanging Sun” is a noir thriller set in a part of Norway where religion dominates, the sun never sets, and local residents seem to be from a different era.

The film follows John — a man on the run because he has betrayed his powerful crime-lord father,...