18-year-old Caspar wants to reach the top, no matter what. Read more …
He carries out small-time break-ins for Jamal, before moving on to work for big player Björn. All goes well, until Jamal's gang decide they want revenge. What starts with pushing and shoving soon escalates into armed conflict. This is a big test for Caspar: is he ruthless enough for this battle? And will he drag his younger brother into it?
Noer draws energetic turns from these non-pros, while demonstrating a real grasp of the grimy milieu. Just a pity the plot is so by-the-numbers.
Noer, whose gritty drama R won such raves in 2010, returns with another corrosive look at the criminal underbelly of his native land.
A gripping watch.
Underwritten social drama but still a solid genre offering.
It chiefly resembles that scrappy posturing by which our own film industry habitually bids for street cred.
Intense newcomer Gustave Dyekjaer Giese manages to retain our sympathy even as Casper’s story runs along predictable lines in this flinty thriller.
While the story itself may lack originality, the miserablist milieu is affectingly real.
Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow from Friday July 25, 2014, until Thursday July 31, 2014. More info: http://www.glasgowfilm.org/theatre/
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