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Essential Killing (15)

Thriller, War

A thriller centered on a political prisoner who attempts his escape.


The critical consensus

Intense, pared-down and single-minded, Essential Killing presents the fight for survival at its most elemental. An impressive comeback from a highly individual filmmaker.

****(*)Philip Kemp, Total Film, 22/03/2011

If you’re averse to political preaching, fear not: geopolitics acts as little more than window dressing in Jerzy Skolimowski’s wilfully enigmatic but structurally-familiar drama.

****(*)Chris Buckle, The Skinny, 28/03/2011

Gallo convinces as a desperate man on the run for his life and capable of anything. Don't expect wordy interplay or political exposition though: this thriller is a mood piece that's all but dialogue free.

***(*)(*)David Parkinson, Empire Online, 29/03/2011

It could almost have been made as a silent movie, which is a credit both to Gallo's performance and Skolimowski's pared-down storytelling.

***(*)(*)Anthony Quinn, The Independent, 01/04/2011

The film is on the verge of delirium: a gripping metaphysical drama.

****(*)Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian, 31/03/2011

The film, like Mohammed’s quest, begins to feel like a trudge.

**(*)(*)(*)Alison Rowat, The Herald, 31/03/2011

Essential Killing is a movie you want to like more than you can.

**(*)(*)(*)Daily Record, 01/04/2011

As a near-abstract rumination on war and survival, it has a certain stark potency.

***(*)(*)Tim Robey, The Telegraph, 01/04/2011

It's a stark, pared down, existential pursuit story.

Philip French, The Observer, 03/04/2011

The film never provides definitive answers as to what's driving him, but that works in its favour, forcing us to recognise that on some level the atavistic desire to stay alive might be what makes us all human.

***(*)(*)Alistair Harkness, The Scotsman, 09/04/2011


Features about Essential Killing (15)

Polish director, writer and actor Jerzy Skilimowski on new film Essential Killing

Tom Dawson, The List, 18/03/2011

Jerzy Skolimowski: This Killing was nearly the death of me

David Gritten, The Telegraph, 25/03/2011

Where and when?

General release. Check local listings for show times.

Edinburgh Filmhouse, Edinburgh from Friday April 29, 2011, until Thursday May 5, 2011. More info: www.filmhousecinema.com

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