The Guilty

    The Guilty
    2018

    Synopsis

    Police officer Asger Holm, demoted to desk work as an alarm dispatcher, answers a call from a panicked woman who claims to have been kidnapped. Confined to the police station and with the phone as his only tool, Asger races against time to get help and find her.

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    Cast

    • Jakob CedergrenAsger Holm
    • Jessica DinnageIben (voice)
    • Omar ShargawiRashid (voice)
    • Johan OlsenMichael (voice)
    • Jacob Ulrik LohmannBo (voice)
    • Katinka Evers-JahnsenMathilde (voice)
    • Jeanette LindbækNorth Zealand Shift Chief (voice)
    • Simon BennebjergJunkie (voice)
    • Laura BroJournalist (voice)
    • Morten SuurballeMan at Skælbækgade Street (voice)

    Recommendations

    • 89

      The Verge

      Thanks to Möller’s staging, a script full of twists, and a compelling performance from lead actor Jakob Cedergren, it’s a riveting, nerve-racking surprise — and it has a few things to say about how even the best intentions can lead to disturbing abuses of power.
    • 80

      The Hollywood Reporter

      Despite focusing entirely on a single individual speaking into a headset in a Danish emergency call center, The Guilty nevertheless emerges as a twisty crime thriller that’s every bit as pulse-pounding and involving as its action-oriented, adrenaline-soaked counterparts.
    • 80

      Screen Daily

      With a terse 85-minute running time, The Guilty illustrates Möller’s confidence with the craft of film-making.
    • 80

      Variety

      Gustav Möller’s short, taut debut feature never leaves the claustrophobic confines of the call center, but builds a vivid aural suspense narrative through the receiver, all while incrementally unboxing the visible protagonist’s own frail mental state.
    • 80

      Village Voice

      The Guilty beautifully demonstrates how people can act with absolute conviction even when they don’t have the full picture of a situation, and the monstrousness this can in turn lead to. And if that doesn’t speak to our time, then I don’t know what does.
    • 75

      The Film Stage

      Despite suffering from a few tropes and a third act that starts to slowly come off the rails as sympathies change, The Guilty is a riveting mystery creating a race against time that includes false leads, family drama, and the search for a van somewhere within a specific cell tower.
    • 75

      The Playlist

      Möller keeps a sense of immediacy and tension throughout, despite never actually showing the cause of Asger’s worry and dread – and our own.
    • 75

      Slant Magazine

      The Guilty is a taut chamber thriller dominated by the flinty yet highly emotive visage of actor Jakob Cedergren.

    Seen by

    • Sérgio P.