Cruelty (Grimmd, A.Sigurdsson, 2016): Iceland

Reviewed by Martha  Castaneda Santa Barbara Film Festival 2017

 A small and serene Icelandic town just outside of Reykjavik is shattered and sent reeling by the murder of two young, innocent girls. Directed by Anton Sigurdsson, “Cruelty” follows the towns two best detectives in their quest to find the killer. Where other detective films fail by becoming tedious, “Cruelty” does not. Sigurdsson is successful by exceeding in creating a suspenceful storyline that keeps his viewers engaged. At the start of the film the usual peaceful existence of this small city is shocked when after three days of being missing, two sisters are found brutally murdered. As the two detectives start their investigation they begin by interviewing suspects that fit the profile. Sigurdsson introduces characters that all have pedofilistic-type qualities and in doing so inherently makes them suspects.  In “Cruelty”, Sugurdsson employs a unique and unorthodox use of subtitles in order to further along the films sense of mystery and intrigue. However, unless one speaks fluent Icelandic the film at times becomes confusing, frustrating and downright annoying. From a purely aesthetic standpoint the subtitles seem erroneous because the timing does not seem to fit what is going on in the film. I understand that the logic from the director (in his use of subtitles) is probably for the sake of keeping his audience in the dark and keeping us guessing about the killer. Who wants to watch a predictable, foreseeable detective film in the first place? However, after a series of interviews, the detectives seem to settle on a child-molesting autistic man. At the close of the film they learned  the murderer was wearing a particular jacket, A jacket owned by her own brother! Earlier in the film her brother was introduced as a suspect, but because of the subtitles important details where missing, like that it was her brother in their suspect list. Before she realizes the truth about her brother, a type of “street justice” was inflicted on him by local townsfolk. As the brother is in a coma, the film leaves you wondering what the lead detective (and sister of the killer) will do. Although knowing the fact that the brother was in the end punished is satisfying. “Cruelty” had its positives, like its suspense and plot. In general though I wouldn’t recommend it because the frustration from the subtitles trumped any good qualities. Close but no cigar.