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| "You should have seen me when I had finished adjusting my cufflinks" - Joel Kinnaman (middle), Matias Varela (L) and Dragomir Mrsic (R). |
Preview at Odeon Covent Garden, 25/4/2013
Joel
Kinnaman, previously seen in the US version of The Killing, shines in this hard edged and gritty Swedish crime
thriller based on a novel by Jens Lapidus. Kinnaman plays JW, a poor business student who yearns
to live like his wealthy classmates in a Stockholm business school and maintains
his outwardly glamourous lifestyle on the cheap by living a secret double life
as a taxi driver. In the meantime he is on the lookout for a rich girlfriend or
business opportunity to provide him with the means to lead the life he craves.
He appears to get his big break, but things soon unravel.
He
is drawn into the Swedish drug trade by Jorge, played by Matias Varela, and
Mrado, played by the bank robber turned actor Vladimir Mrsic. Soon enough the
strain of leading a double life begins to tell, and JW begins to realise that
he is no longer in control of his own fate. Loyalties are tested to
breaking point.
Although
it doesn’t entirely resist the melodrama and moralising that blights Nordic noir, the film excels in developing the characters of Jorge and
Mrado so that we sympathise with both even as we appreciate their criminal
intent. Kinnaman’s performance in particular is superb, his gradual
transformation from insecure student to criminal mastermind and down is subtly and
masterfully played. Mrado is convincing too, oscillating between sensitive
father and menacing heavy. Director Daniel Espinosa never lets the tension slip
and the shocking violence, thrills and drama add up to a very good film indeed.
5/5
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