The Keeper of Lost Causes (MA)
Directed by Mikkel Norgaard
Police Inspector Carl Morck (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) is sent to the basement to file away the mess of cold cases that have been stored there. Not content with the office work he is assigned, Morck, assisted by Assad (Fares Fares), tries to solve the first case. Five years earlier, young politician Merete Lynggaard (Sonja Richte) had disappeared while on a ferry with her brain-damaged brother. Although no body had been found, the case had been ruled a suicide. The film is scripted by Nikolaj Arcel (who scripted the original The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) and based on the international best-selling crime thriller of the same name. Icy Denmark again becomes the location for a mega-suspenseful and somewhat twisted crime thriller. Shot in harsh monochrome hues, flashbacks actually show the audience what happened to Lynggaard, but the suspense of why it all came about is held until the very end.
A Most Wanted Man (M)
Directed by Anton Corbijn
In his last film, Philip Seymour Hoffman is a German intelligence officer in a filmic adaptation of a John le Carré thriller based on the real life events. The story is set in Hamburg where le Carré worked for British Intelligence in the 1950s and 1960s. The hard-drinking, overweight, chain-smoking Hoffman struggles for breath but he commands all your attention as Gunter Bachmann. Concentrating on dialogue rather than car chases and multiple killings, the plodding Bachmann tries to work out what illegal Islamic immigrant Issa Karpov (Grigoriy Dobrygin) is plotting. Both German and American security agencies are keeping close eyes on Bachmann and Annabel Richter (Rachel McAdams), the human rights lawyer who is helping Karpov. Even in post 9/11 times, agencies from different countries share no trust and when Karpov is used as bait to catch a bigger player, the plot twists and turns into an explosive knot.
Predestination (MA)
Directed byPeter and Michael Spierig
It’s 1970 and a young man walks into a bar… This time it’s a transgender man (Sarah Snook) who tells the bartender (Ethan Hawk) his life story. It’s complicated and shocking and it’s best not to give too much away. You see, neither character is what they seem to be. Sarah Snook’s character writes as an unmarried mother. Ethan Hawk’s character is a Temporal Agent who uses time travel to go back into the past to right wrongs and he has been chasing the ‘Fizzle Bomber’ through time. Ever since HG Wells invented the time machine, authors have been fascinated by the paradoxes time travel posed and this tale throws you right into the middle of it all. Based on “All You Zombies”, a 12 page story by Robert A. Heinlein and written and directed by identical twins Peter and Michael Spierig (Australian directors responsible for Undead and Daybreakers), this is one of those films you have to see … and then see again.
These Final Hours (MA)
Directed by Zak Hilditch
So, the Northern Hemisphere has finally managed to set off a cataclysmic chain reaction which is going to take 12 hours to reach Perth. Using the metropolitan area as a backdrop, Perth writer/director Zak Hildich asks what you would do in your last hours. While some people calm; others run around full of rage; some hope to finish their jigsaw and some fill up on alcohol and drugs. James (Nathan Phillips) leaves his lover Zoe (Jessica De Gouw) to be with girlfriend Vicky (Kathryn Beck) at the party to end all parties. Along the way he rescues 11 year old Rose (Angourie Rice) who leads him to question his life, even if there is not much time to make amends. It’s a bleak drama with many Perth locations like you’ve not seen before. Oozing with black humour and atmosphere, Hilditch’s drama questions our priorities in life and produces one of the most unforgettable final scenes of a film. Don’t miss this one.
Lezly Herbert
