In The Shadow (David Ondricek, 2012): Czech Republic

Reviewed by Casey Cummings at the Metro 4 Theater, Santa Barbara.

A wonderful crime thriller. In The Shadow takes you to the streets of Poland in the 1950’s where a lead detective is trying to solve a robbery, and murder mystery. This film was very interesting and stood out because its unpredictable.

David Ondricek does an amazing job directing in this film and was well shot with lighting, different camera angles, and the costumes the characters were dressed up in. He makes you think somethings going to happen, or someone suspicious stands out but really changes it throughout the plot. I’ve never noticed any actors in the film, maybe because there all polish, but they all did a outstanding job with there characters.

The first act is a jewelery store being robbed and the police investigating. It shows two men in the jewelery store but focuses mainly on a very fat man that breaks into the safe. The owner gets framed and is a major part in the film. Throughout the rest of the film the cops try to investigate this robbery and run into a murder that consists of four dead. They try to cover it up by using guns and taking the bullets out of one of them. The lead detective is able to get one of these bullets he discovers on the crime scene and finds out that only military officers are issued these guns… Right when you think someones the killer, the plot switches and something else is reveled.

A scene that caught my attention was the one where the two men are standing on the bridge. The camera is a ways away being shot from ground level looking up at the bridge. The suspicious man we don’t know then throws the fat guy, we were introduced to in the beginning, over the bridge and lands on the train tracks. It then switches angles to up above the bridge where you an see a train coming and then runs over the fat man laying in the middle of the tracks. Also the murder scene with the infamous killer that we don’t get to see. all you see is him holding the guns and shooting the people.The film reminded me of LA confidential in a sense of a crime thriller. i enjoyed this film, it had me on the edge of my seat the entire time and i recommend seeing it.