February 28
The Guilty
Greta
**Alert: One week to go until the Alliance Francaise Film Festival**
**Alert: Transitions Film Festival continues** 

It's thriller week. One tense Scandi crime thriller proves you don't need elaborate locations and actions to get full throttle tension.  By contrast, French superstar Isabelle Huppert stars in a bizarrely entertaining tale of a friendship turned sinister, set in New York.  

The Guilty
Director: Gustav Moller
Length: 85 min
Exclusive to Cinema Nova

© Rialto - one man, one scene - a tense story
in true Scandi noir style

The Scandis do it well when it comes to tense crime stories. In this Danish film, former police officer Asger Holm (Jakob Cedergren) now works in emergency dispatch, where he receives a call from a woman who says she's been kidnapped. As he attempts to get more information and arrange help, he discovers things aren't always what they seem. Here's the incredible thing about this gripping film - it all takes place in the confines of the one setting  - Asger at his desk with his phone and GPS tracker. It is up to the viewer to create the mental imagery required to flesh out what is happening on the other end and to make sense of what is fact, and what other interpretations of the truth may exist. All assumptions must be put aside as the plot progresses. Surprisingly this works extremely well, with the tension progressively ramping up, along with one's engagement with Asger. The film's power is enhanced by its dark visual tones, and the highlights on Asger's face. Cedergren is wonderful as a man giving his all to a fragile situation where mental instability plays a huge factor. The film is compassionate and challenging and a most unusual and impressive cinematic experience.
4 - highly recommended!

Greta
Director: Neil Jordan
Length: 98 min

© Universal - French icon Isabelle Huppert is
 well-cast in this creepy thriller.

Frances (Chloe Grace Moretz) has moved from Boston to New York a year after the death of her mother. When she finds a handbag left on the train, the honest but naive youngster returns it to the rightful owner, an older French woman, Greta (Isabelle Huppert), who is very appreciative and extremely lonely. A friendship develops, until Frances discovers something is not quite kosher about Greta. This is a truly over-the-top B-grade thriller, with a lot to like, plus a pile of plot holes you could drive a truck through! But veteran director Jordan seems assured in how he wants his film to be - full of sinister tension, sudden frights, and one big unexpected surprise. There is also an overload of well-worn horror tropes and a fairly predictable cliff-hanger ending. However Huppert is a just perfect at playing creepy, charming and odd all at the same time, while the fresh-faced misty-eyed Moretz is a great foil for her. Maika Monroe is also strong as Frances' flatmate Erica. Sometimes it's just plain old-fashioned fun to see a well-acted horror that entertains and frightens without endless blood and gore, and of course Huppert is always worth watching.
3 - recommended!