D.I River chooses life despite everything.

ianlouisiana

Mr S.Skarsgard has the brooding presence of Mr J Wayne as Ethan Edwards in "The Searchers",and the voice of Mr O.Welles as Harry Lime in "The Third Man". He is a detective obsessed with finding the murderer of his partner Miss N.Walker who was shot in front of him apparently at random. Nothing unusual about that you might think,but Miss Walker appears,as chirpy and irrepressible as she presumably was in life,next to him in his car,in his office and just about anywhere else she chooses,to chide him along,goad him and join him in a karaoke bar,singing joyfully and generally being very annoying,albeit rather endearing. A young girl living in his flat that you might think is his daughter turns out to be the victim of a murder he is investigating and a young man he sees and suspects of being Miss Walkers killer jumps off a balcony and kills himself before revealing to the Inspector that in fact he was innocent. So we can see Mr Skarsgard has a problem with dead people. Additionally he is visited by the ghost of Victorian serial - killer Neil Cream who gives him philosophical insights into the criminal mind. This from a man who,just before he was dropped to hell from the scaffold, shouted "I am Jack the ...." So he needs to be selective in the advice he takes there. If this all seems like a bit of a melange...well,it is,but a brilliant melange. Filmed in what might be called "Scandi - Noir" style,it deals with love and grief in a grown up way,with the scene where Inspector River goes to his late partner's flat and curls up on her bed hugging her pillow was genuinely moving. Even without knowing whether they were having an affair(and I rather think not as she treats him like a teenager might treat a favourite uncle)it is clear he loved her. So accept that this bear of a man,decent and compassionate,is living with ghosts,go along with the fact that his partner has a huge exit wound in the back of her head but still sings her socks off,and wish that guys like D.I. River didn't go out with Brylcreem and Crombie overcoats. Most of all,watch this joyful affirmation of what it means to be alive and how preferable it is to the alternative.

score 10/10

ianlouisiana 15 October 2015

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw3335796/