El culpable

"The Guilty" is one of those one-man show movies that revolve around a single character in a single location working through some sort of dramatic situation. In this film, the character is a cop who's been put on 911 call center duty while he awaits trial for misconduct on the job. The way he handles the emergency that falls into his lap and the way he goes about making decisions, most of them bad ones, tells us a lot about him and how he probably ended up on trial in the first place.

Movies like this are always going to feel to a certain extent like gimmicks and will have to deal with the distractions that come with that (How will it maintain dramatic tension? How will it remain visually engaging?) This one uses a plot twist that serves to both throw the audience for a loop and reveal much about our main character, namely that he makes a whole heap of assumptions when dealing with a crisis scenario, not the best attribute for a police officer.

A slick, effective little thriller that's well worth your time.

Grade: A-

Your imagination makes this movie. It's like a book. Asgers works at the 911 (112) emergency call, he gets a call from a woman being kidnapped. The film made me angry, disgusted, sad and so on.. Asgers character development was surprising. Really liked it, proud to be a dane.

I watched this at the festival where after the projection we had a QA session with the director.

The Film itself is technically impressive, all framed within 2 rooms where all you'll see is the main character at the phone and very little more. This is not a limitation but instead the strength of the Movie itself; it's all about guided imagination. The dialogues push your figurative skills to build this outdoor world that is intentionally not shown to you.

There has been a lot of background work/preparation for this Film and it's all visible in the final product.

The director did a great job alternating long moments of high tension with some short funny ones to engage the audience.

I do consider this Movie very unique and original but you might find some similarities with Locke and perhaps also Phone Boot where a series of phone calls is the actual stage.

Unmissable title for 2018

Bravo!

In the vein of Locke, this super low-budget but effective thriller had me on the edge of my seat. It had the appropriate twists and turns to keep the audience guessing. It played with my emotions and had me in tears. How come Danish films are often just so good?

Unfolding in real time, this immediately involving story bends and turns in surprising, sometimes horrifying ways. Enriched by Oskar Skriver's marvelous sound editing, which takes us from a speeding van to a bloodcurdling crime scene with equal authenticity, the movie smoothly blends police procedural with character study. What's happening on the end of Asger's phone line is gripping enough, but what's happening inside his head - illuminated by Jasper Spanning's almost abusive close-ups - is every bit as fascinating.

Considering all the action is taking place in one room and happens via phone call in Danish language, it's incredible how it keeps you on the edge of your seat with strong character development, great acting and intriguing plot twists