Dark Crimes

Greetings again from the darkness. A neo-noir "inspired by actual events" and based on a compelling 2008 "New Yorker" article by the great David Grann (THE LOST CITY OF Z) seems to have the necessary components for a satisfying thriller. So what went wrong? Unfortunately, a messy script from Jeremy Brock (THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND) prevents this one from ever having a chance at grabbing our attention, much less holding it.

This is the first English language film from director Alexandros Avranas (MISS VIOLENCE, 2013) and his cast is led by Jim Carrey as police inspector Tadek, a disgraced cop who takes care of his elderly mother while also obsessing over the now coldcase that ruined his career. Carrey sports a Polish accent through "most" of his performance ... a performance that is mostly subdued, especially given his career. Joining him as co-leads in the cast are two other excellent actors: Martin Csokas and Charlotte Gainsbourg. Csokas plays Kozlow, the main antagonist and suspect - an author with clues to the key murder highlighted in his novel. Ms. Gainsbourg is underutilized as Kasia, the former sex worker, now intimate acquaintance of Kozlow. She is the key to solving the case.

Grann's article entitled "True Crimes: A Postmodern Murder Mystery" told the story of novelist/convicted murderer Krystian Bala. It's an article worth reading and one that bears only passing resemblance to this screen adaptation. The film is purposefully drab, bleak, dark, grey and dour, with a stark, cold look to the characters and most every scene. Tadek is a man on a mission to save his reputation, even at the expense of his family life, or really any life at all. The game of cat and mouse between Tadek and Kozlow never reaches the level of tension that the film seems to think it does ... even in the one-on-one interrogation scene or the seemingly endless blabbering of the recordings Tadek listens to.

There is a terrific international cast of supporting actors including Vlad Ivanov, Robert Wieckiewicz, Piotr Glowacki and Agata Kulesza, but the cast is only able to do so much with the material. Perhaps the draw is supposed to be Jim Carrey is the darkest role of his career. On the bright side, the story is neatly wrapped up at the end thanks to one character who deserves a "win".

A hard-boiled detective becomes suspicious of an author whose novel resembles the inner-workings of an unsolved murder.

Director Alexandros Avranas' Dark Crimes is wonderfully framed and is tour de force in lighting and creating a moody atmosphere. Reminiscent of 2016's The Snowman, while well written Jeremy Brock's solemn screenplay is non-eventful. However there are some solid performances, Marton Csokas is on fine form, Carrey is outstanding in this serious brooding role as an investigator who wants to solve a case that he was taken off.

The twist whodunit at the end comes as no surprise, never the less, worth viewing for Carrey's performance alone.

Wow what a different JIM CARREY we have here!!! & he was Excellent in this very dark crime Thriller, i think Carrey is great at Drama & this movie really shows how good an actor he really is, feels like we're FINALLY getting to see the REAL jim carrey,the Jim Carrey he always wanted to show on screen!!! I grew up watching Carrey like EVERYONE did as the rubber face crazy comic genius but there is NO trace of that Carrey here at all!!! Here is a powerful performance by the "New" Jim Carrey & i loved it. Dark Crimes itself is a very dark & dreary Crime Thriller & I'm not going into the story because this should be watched not knowing really anything about it except it's a dark crime Thriller & that's how i watched it, i didn't read or watch a single review i just heard about Jim Carrey doing this very serious crime Thriller & waited to buy it on dvd. So yeah this is a very good Thriller with a very moody atmosphere & very dreary & dark with a serious & excellent JIM CARREY who gives a fantastic performance with an accent!!! Just watch it & get hooked into the story like i did & I'm so looking forward to more darker serious roles by Carrey hopefully in the future? JIM CARREY has successfully transitioned from Comic legend to a great serious Actor

A film that in a blunt and true way shows what the real world is. It's sad but true. The world is not Wonder Woman, the world is brutal, if you are weak then you lose. It annoys me that all reviews of the film criticize the violence against women and the bluntness shown. Why? This story had to be shown just like that. The film is based on facts and these facts were brutal. Why are all reviewers so politically correct today? It limits directors! Hypocrisy is shocking because the same reviewers do not mind violence against men or bad exploitation of men but are obsessed with women. Stop. Stop to see everything through the prism of political correctness.

This film had a nice feel to it and was nicely shot. However the story came across as disjointed and didn't make a lot of sense. It was interesting to see Jim Carey in such a bleak role however to me it came across as a very staged performance - And I'm not sure if the accent was a good idea as toward the end of the film it tended to go from Polish, to Northern Irish to American all in one scene.

I remember reading the article this film claims to tell the story of and went back and re-read it on the New Yorker website today. Its an interesting story which this film strays from dramatically, inventing in the whole 'sex club' sub-plot and completely changing the ending. Can't help but feel that in this case, the truth is much more entertaining than the fiction.

As said I enjoyed the direction, locations and cinematography but the rest of the film was a chore.