Waste of time

Strong and Moving!

Excellent adaptation.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

I give the movie 6 stars. Why only 6? Well, if it were not for some absurdities that requires far more than the suspension of disbelief I would have voted 8. The movie is gripping, the acting is good, the photography is dark and suggestive, the characters are troubled and interesting and the story is touching.The detective pair, Carl the troubled one and Assad the more positive thinker, reminds me of other famous nordic investigative couples I saw in "Forbridelsen" (Sarah Lundt and her changing buddies) and in "Bron-Broen" (Saga and Martin). The chemistry between them is good and they are likable, even Carl with his nihilism.I did not read the novel and I don't know if the screenwriter and the director were faithful or not to the written story, but in the movie there are points where I thought "Oh my ... how can it be possible?"SPOILER: How can Kimmie, a mentally troubled homeless woman that has been living in a dirty cart for years, transform herself in few hours into a club vamp dressed in fashion, with a perfect makeup and a blond wig, with no sign of her chronic psychotic behavior? This is beyond credibility, even considering scenic fiction.How can Kimmie overpower armed, strong and combat trained men fronting her? This happens four times: when ambushed in the cart, in her friend's house when she escapes Carl, in the detective apartment after the disco and last in the jail. Talk me about SuperHomelessWoman. Even this is beyond the credibility of scenic fiction.I do not understand why they did not try to make the whole thing more realistic or at last more believable.The story unfolds between past and present and I found some of the flashback scenes slightly disturbing as they show physical and psychological cruelties.This is a sad story without a real happy ending, but worth seeing despite its flaws.

Mystery thriller from Denmark like there should be more. The movie has everything you need to make a good Film Noir. A well chosen cast with good actors, a story line that doesn't reveal everything at once with intriguing plots, a dark ambiance. Those are the movies that I usually remember because you can remember every detail because you paid attention to the captivating story. Unlike other movies that you forget everything about after a couple days. I didn't know any of the actors and they are probably just known in their country but you really can't fail any of them because they did an excellent job. I already saw a couple really good movies from Denmark and this is one of them.

Saw this recently on a rented DVD. This is the follow up to the Keeper of lost causes. In this film, both Nikolaj n Fares need to solve another case because some time has passed since the success of their first case and their reputation is going down. A bereaved ex-cop appeals to Nicolaj to solve the murder of his two children. The ex cop kills himself after being refused. Feeling guilty, our two cops begin looking into the case, with all leads initially pointing towards an elite boarding school. Their search for the truth takes them in some unexpected places n a bandaged nose. Nicolaj after being attacked, gets a bandaged nose, a nod to Jack Nicholson's character from Chinatown. The plot may not be new or there may not be enuff mystery but the movie was captivating to hold your interest till the end. It's much more darker, obscene and gruesome than its predecessor. Its more of a crime tale n less of a mystery. Found it to be a lil disappointing because its not in the same league as its predecessor specially when it comes to suspense n tension. This film has lots flashbacks like the first one. Nonetheless it got saved by strong performances by all. Fares gave a very good performance n Nikolaj too gave a nice performance. A decent police procedural crime tale.

Last week, a populist, right-wing anti-immigration party won the general elections in Denmark. There's a small hint of the increasing Danish aversion against immigrants in 'The Absent One': when a pr-executive is beaten up by two businessmen, the newspapers' headlines state that he is beaten up by immigrants. I would have liked more of this in the film. As it is now, 'The Absent One' is a standard crime thriller. There are hardly any connections to the broader society: the script focuses on the crime and nothing else. At the same time, the excellent script is really the backbone of the movie. It's intelligent, and slowly moves forward with just enough revelations to keep the suspense intact, without the complications or twists that make many crime scripts hard to follow. Also nice are the regular flashbacks to the period of the crime, which is now a cold case, getting renewed attention because of the suicide of a retired policeman. The problem is that the film doesn't have anything that makes it stand out. It's a good, solid thriller, but nothing more than that. It even inclines to overdoing things, which is a shame in a film like this. The ending, with the policemen miraculously saved from a seemingly hopeless situation, is a cliché. The same goes for the state of mind of the lead character: a workaholic policeman, who has too little attention for his son and has no problem bending the rules in order to get the villains.