Hot Picks
|
|
|
Chasing Shadows
UK 2018
produced by Aoun Khan, Tharun Mohan (executive), Rick Romano (executive), Charles Morris jr (executive), Harel Goldstein (executive)
directed by Aoun Khan
starring Cengiz Dervis, Lloyd Sparsi, Julie Rose Smith, Faye Sewell, Kevin Golding, Alex Reece, Issy Knowles, Jo Hart, Shane Falvey, Hephzibah Roe, Eva-Marie Kung, Christina Forrest, Michael Kern, Sarah Rick-Harris, Jessen Aroonachellum, Lee Nicholas Harris, Chris Martin Hill, Lee Byford
written by Aoun Khan, music by Stewart Dugdale
review by Mike Haberfelner
|
|
A murder happens in a small town, and chief inspector Darwin (Kevin
Golding), not used to such incidents, decides to rehire former inspector
Henry (Cengiz Dervis) to do some investigations off the record and away
from prying eyes, basically to avoid all scandal. Now Henry isn't really
hero material, he's addicted to some pills and suffers from severe
psychological problems, and without his wife Lyla (Julie Rose Smith), he
would probably long have fallen apart - but taking care of him, Lyla's
pretty much on the verge of breaking. That all said, the killer was a
clever one, so it's not long before the case goes over Henry's head as
well - and then a second murder happens, and it's not long before Henry
finds out the two are connected - but Darwin just won't accept that
there's a serialkiller in town, and if it wasn't for Henry's former
partner Emily (Faye Sewell), the one who believes in him the most, Darwin
would have taken Henry from the job. Eventually, Henry finds a clue to the
killer, pretty much stumbles upon him and chases him through the streets -
until he's hit by a car, and if it wasn't for Henry's neighbour Max (Lloyd
Sparsi), Henry would have probably died on site. Thing is (and only the
audience knows that), Max wasn't there by coincidence, he actually is the
killer Henry's after. Henry starts to suspect Max pretty soon though, but
everyone else, from Darwin to Lyla, think he's going paranoid, and it's
only when Lyla goes missing that Darwin even agrees to have Max's place
searched - with horrifying results ... Being in equal parts
serialkiller flick and character study, Chasing Shadows is one of
these movies that gets it right, focusing its story not merely on the
fight of good vs evil (or at least right vs wrong) but going deep into the
(broken) mind of who's supposed to be the hero, coming up with some
disturbing facts in the process - and that's where Chasing Shadows
really gets its tension from, from veering off the usual thriller route
and showing the whole gritty picture, warts and all, a narrative approach
that's pretty much mirrored in the directorial effort that refuses to
gloss over things, and a strong cast really round things out to make this
a very strong and unusual piece of genre cinema.
|
|
|