Departamento Q: Guardiões das Causas Perdidas

Scandinavian detective films is a sign of international quality, especially for those who think that stories can be catchy without constant chases-shootings and without a thin line between law machinery and criminals. Kvinden i buret is a nice and solid example such films, plus talented character actors in leading roles - a Dane Nikolaj Lie Kaas and an Assyrian from Sweden Fares Fares (by the way, speaking tolerable Danish). Multidimensional plot provides additional tensions and you start to ponder who and why, the outcome is logical, although the wrongdoer's person and motives were revealed a bit too early. The film includes several clichés as well (for example, injudicious boss vs. solitary pigheaded detective, bickers between partners), but they are not annoying, enabling to unfold the characters and justify certain deeds.

All in all, a nice film, and first in the line of films (to be) made on the basis of Jussi Adler-Olsen's novels. I am looking forward to see them all.

Suspenseful thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat throughout the movie. I read the book a couple of years ago and as far as I can recall it, this movie does a good job in retelling the story.

The latest in a long (endless?) line of fine Scandinavian police thrillers, The Keeper of Lost Causes (Kvinden I buret to give it its Danish title) is a taut, thrilling cop drama that compels and seizes the interest for the duration of its 97 minute running time.

In the aftermath of an ill-fated mission that leaves one colleague dead and another seriously injured, police inspector Carl Mørck (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) is bumped from his department and tasked with setting up Department Q, a dead-end desk job that requires him to spend the next few years ensconced in a dusty basement with a new partner, Assad (Fares Fares), tying up the loose ends on old cases. Instructed to close three cases per week, Mørck and Assad begin with the investigation of a politician, Merete Lynggaard (Sonja Richter) who disappeared five years previously. Written off as a suicide, Mørck is determined to prove there is more to the case and delves into a murky case of abuse, murder and kidnapping.

With both Kaas and Richter alumni of the original series of The Killing, and Fares a star of both Easy Money and Zero Dark Thirty, the central trio makes for a very solid human triptych, even if displayed as separate components (he wrote carefully, determined not to lead or hint or give anything away). The relationship between Mørck and Assad, particularly, is a sufficient variation of the 'cop buddies' partnership to make it feel new. Both policemen have their foibles, their differences and their similarities; Mørck is out of favour, Assad has been trusted with something vaguely resembling a promotion, Mørck is silent and brooding, Assad celebrates his new found 'freedom' with ear-bleeding music, Mørck is a battering ram, Assad invests time to achieve his results…

As an aside, The Keeper of Lost Causes succeeds magnificently in portraying a Muslim character in a positive light in a film that isn't about that issue. Assad could be anyone; he just happens to be a Muslim.

Though The Keeper of Lost Causes will invariably be compared to The Killing, it is closer in tone to the thoughtfulness of Wallander and the cynicism of French series Spiral and is spiced with the dark violence of Larsson's Millennium trilogy. There is humour within the gloomy folds of this thriller but it is cold and cynical as befits a yarn of kidnap and murder.

I saw much of the outcome in the first fifteen minutes of The Keeper of Lost Causes but it was a still an electrifying journey that has a great deal to celebrate, not least of all a sublime accident sequence. Think 'ballet with cars' and you're getting close.

Like all good thrillers, The Keeper of Lost Causes works on the terror factor that it could happen. We don't tend to believe in zombies and vampires, although I'm up for a short-term zombocalypse armed with a crossbow and a katana, but humans with a vindictive streak and a penchant for malevolent revenge? Yep, they're far too real to ignore.

The Keeper of Lost Causes is a rare treat for another reason: it clearly sets itself up for a sequel and director Mikkel Nørgaard has duly obliged with the second adaptation of author Juss Adler-Olsen's novels, The Absent One (Fasandræberne), released in Denmark this autumn.

Roll on the end of the summer!

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Kvinden i buret has got the English, and much better title, The Keeper of Lost Causes, in stead of what should have been The caged woman. The Danish title is maybe the worst about this film, but still that's due to the Novel by Jussi Adler-Olsen, which have had a good portion of success with the crime novels about detective Carl. The international title I find as very suitable, and promises more to come!

Carl (played by Nikolaj Lie Kaas) is a cop which after a mistake thrown off his normal job as detective, after nearly being shot. His wife has dumped him, his best friend and fellow detective is dead and his ex-partner crippled, both in the same case which nearly cost him life. He is put at a desk to close open old cases. But he has other plans. I'll leave the case here, but the film is so well made, and the actors play so well in a well crafted script by Nicolaj Arcel, which really is an amazing writer, that this is well worth a watch.

The film manages to be interesting all the way through, and even gives us as viewers some really hard scenes to watch, as well as giving some kins of flashbacks which is really fresh. The casting is also very good when it comes to these time flashbacks, which show real quality.

This is the start of a franchise of Adler-Olsen filmed novels, and I hope the next will be just as good. Nicolaj Lie-Kaas has said yes to three more. Surprisingly also well known Swedish comedy film maker Fares Fares function as his sidekick, though his Danish is quite bad. But it works, due to his credibility, and that he is a foreign breaking on Danish.

Check it out.

I think it's fair to say that THE KEEPER OF LOST CAUSES is Denmark's answer to THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO; it has much in common with the look, style, and feel of the Steig Larsson adaptation, although the narrative is more simplistic and straightforward as befits a shorter film. Once again the story is a mix of crime grittiness, nasty unpleasantness, historical events impacting on the present, and some dogged detectives refusing to give up on a cold case.

The methods of the killer in this film are quite terrifying from a psychological perspective, adding a sheen of unique horror to the movie which comes as an unexpected surprise. Although the subject matter is depressing the film is never so, because the production values are excellent and the cinematography particularly strong. The main characters aren't particularly likable, they're too gruff for that, but they are realistic, which is what counts. Although I'm not a huge fan of Scandinavian crime stories, even I enjoyed this well-paced and engrossing tale.