Up for an hour-and-a-half of Nordic noir? Then Northwest is probably for you, especially as it will show you that crime movies from Scandinavia (this one is from Denmark) can be as different in style as films from anywhere else. And Northwest – only the second fiction feature from director Michael Noer, previously responsible for the brutal prison drama R (2010) – is not only a world away from police procedural and cable-knit jumpers: it also plays round with many of the supposed rules of cinematic crime fiction.
Chief focus is 18-year-old Casper, who lives in the violent Copenhagen suburb that gives the film its title. Casper has a handy skill – he’s very good at housebreaking – which brings him to the notice of crime boss Björn, who welcomes him into his dysfunctional ‘family’ of petty thugs, racists and chauvinists. But, as in all the best families, tensions soon begin to rise and Casper is forced to prove himself. The struggles he has, both within himself and with the members of his two families (adoptive and birth), give the film an edge which takes it beyond the normal bounds of crime movies. And the final 10 minutes should on no account be missed.
Fri Oct 11, Rich Mix, 20:45; also Sat 12, NFT2, 18:40
