Director: Mikkel Norgaard
Cast: Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Fares Fares, Sonja Richter, Mikkel Boe Folsgaard.
Certificate: 15
Running Time: 97 minutes.
Synopsis: Transferred to Department Q, detective Carl Morck is given the task of sorting out cold cases. However, Morck isn’t one to let things lie and sets about cracking the case of a missing politician who is believed to have committed suicide.
With such interest around Nordic noirs and scandinavian crime dramas, it’s no surprise to see yet another popular novel series be brought to the big screen. What is surprising, is that after countless TV shows, this adaptation went the way of cinema rather than going straight to TV. There is nothing we haven’t seen here before, and the film rarely gets a chance to operate outside of its main investigation.
The film is set up rather quickly with a botched police operation resulting in one dead, one paralysed, and one forced into a new department. In the basement and paired with an enthusiastic partner, Morck (Kaas) quickly sets about upsetting his superiors by questioning police reports and spending over his budget. The renegade approach usually has us on teh side of the idealistic cop, but here the film struggles to make that connection. We’re shown how Morck’s behaviour has lead to trouble in the past and we don’t get to know him too well. There are attempts at fleshing him out, such as a step-son subplot that goes nowhere and confuses in its execution, but other than that our main focus in on the case.
The case unravels with precision and expertise in tension building. A few early bumps make it difficult to surmise whether we are seeing actual events or the police officer’s imagination of events, but soon we’re at home in an obvious race against time. Slowly we’re fed pieces of information, but this isn’t an involving case which you’ll be able to work out. We find out how pieces of information are linked at the same time as the police, making this less involving but also surprising.
Although the film looks slightly more professional than a TV show that would have been assembled at a faster pace, the story still matches the exact beats to the point where you could probably edit in your own adverts during fades to black at dramatic points. It’s easy to see the struggle with adapting such crime dramas, as it’s clear most of the character development had to be left out. This pretty much means the detective characters are interchangeable with any detective in the history of crime fiction.
For those who love the likes of THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, WALLANDER, etc. Then you’ll hopefully still be engaged by the twisting narrative that has a range of interesting side characters and motivations which create enough humanity to actually care about the outcomes. Kaas and Fares have just the right amount of chemistry, which keeps things professional but also hints at them willing to take risks for one another. Richter plays the trapped woman whose life hangs in the balance with such grit and determination that you’ll be willing her on even when she is at her most frail.
Competent enough in its execution, but running the dangerous risk of being lost in the sea of similarly themed crime adaptations, THE KEEPER OF LOST CAUSES sets up for the remaining two books in the franchise to be developed. It’s not something I’m against, but there needs to be more style and substance to justify a place on the big screen..
[usr=3] THE KEEPER OF LOST CAUSES is in cinemas from 29th August
