Danish crime thrillers have a reputation for being well made, featuring interesting characters and offering lots of suspense. This reputation is mainly built on television series such as The Bridge and The Killing, but 'The Keeper of Lost Causes' is also a case in point.
It has all the characteristics of a typical Scandinavian thriller: a gruff police detective, some psychological elements, and offbeat features like a character with brain damage, a Muslim policeman and a gay couple. The story is constructed as a classic thriller setup: a police detective tries to unravel a five year old cold case. At the time, it was dismissed as a suicide, but the detective uncovers some improbable elements and slowly finds the pieces of the puzzle.
Some elements can be considered worn-out clichés: the detective is a bitter man without a family life, who has nothing else but his work to live for. His superior doesn't appreciate what he is doing, but he presses on regardlessly. When he is on the verge of solving the case, he almost gets killed by the criminal, but his assistant comes to the rescue.
Yes, this sounds like you've seen it all before. Still, the film is quite enjoyable because of the skillful way everything is put together. The script, with several flash-backs, is well written, the cinematography is original (with a very good car crash scene), the acting is effective and the minimalistic sound track is impressive. The plot is perhaps a little bit bizarre, but that's not entirely unusual in a thriller of this kind.
It has all the characteristics of a typical Scandinavian thriller: a gruff police detective, some psychological elements, and offbeat features like a character with brain damage, a Muslim policeman and a gay couple. The story is constructed as a classic thriller setup: a police detective tries to unravel a five year old cold case. At the time, it was dismissed as a suicide, but the detective uncovers some improbable elements and slowly finds the pieces of the puzzle.
Some elements can be considered worn-out clichés: the detective is a bitter man without a family life, who has nothing else but his work to live for. His superior doesn't appreciate what he is doing, but he presses on regardlessly. When he is on the verge of solving the case, he almost gets killed by the criminal, but his assistant comes to the rescue.
Yes, this sounds like you've seen it all before. Still, the film is quite enjoyable because of the skillful way everything is put together. The script, with several flash-backs, is well written, the cinematography is original (with a very good car crash scene), the acting is effective and the minimalistic sound track is impressive. The plot is perhaps a little bit bizarre, but that's not entirely unusual in a thriller of this kind.