To Catch A Killer (2023)
To Catch A Killer is an intriguing crime drama slash mystery thriller by Argentinian director Damián Szifron, who gained an Oscar-nomination for his previous movie Wild Tales (2014).
That movie consisted of six short stories that explored the extremities of human behavior involving people in distress. It was very good and won awards all over the world.
The fact that To Catch A Killer is his first feature in nine years could be a sign that it was difficult to find funding for this ambitious project.
On the surface, though, the premise may seem a bit derivative. Shailene Woodley plays Eleanor Falco, a troubled but talented police officer, who is hired by the FBI’s top dog Geoffrey Lammark (Ben Mendelsohn) to help him find an expert marksman who shot and killed almost 30 people on New Year’s Eve in the American city of Baltimore.
And yes, Szifron takes the police procedure side of the movie quite seriously. ‘He doesn’t want to die, he doesn’t want to be found,’ Lamarrk analyses the killer. ‘But someone loved him, someone trained him and someone sold him the gun. And if you find them,’ he concludes, ‘you will find him.’
And so they go to work. And the real strength of the movie lies in the execution. The lead characters are sharply defined and the acting is suitably intense, with both Mendelsohn and Woodley clearly relishing the well-written dialogue. The camera work is coolly observant, placing the actors in the frame without too many close-ups, making the audience watch carefully without manipulating their emotions too much.
Too Catch A Killer was originally called Misantrophe, and that epithet can be used to describe both the protagonists and their adversary. The movie is critical of late stage capitalism and the way people continue to be part of the rat race. What adds to the intrigue is that the mysterious killer is a Unabomber type who believes the earth would be better off without people to ruin it.
Whether you believe we are on a road to nowhere or not, doesn’t really matter. What matters is that this movie is a slow burning gem.
Note: Since April, To Catch A Killer has been released in a fair number of countries. It’s out now in Belgium and Australia, it is released in the Netherlands later this week and will open in Brazil and Mexico in the coming weeks.