Saturday, June 28, 2025

DEPARTMENT Q THE ABSENT ONE / FASANDRÆBERNE (2016)


Currently streaming on NetFlix as DEPT. Q, the Scots-set/English-language redo of this series has a glamorously distressed Matthew Goode leading a motley squad thru Cold Case files; this is the second of the four Danish films it came out of.  (First one covered here:  https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2025/03/department-q-keeper-of-lost-causes.html.)  Mikkel Nørgaard again directs Nikolaj Lie Kaas as the intense, self-destructive lead detective and Fares Fares is his relatively cool-headed second second.  This case pulls up a twenty year old double murder involving a cover-up by rich & powerful types, a posh private school for the entitled where everyone met & mingled, sexual blackmail, a fallen woman with secrets to hide (if she can just stay alive), and of course that school days double murder.  A nasty piece of business compared to the first case, but effective in its darker manner.  It does lay things on pretty thick; the bad guys don’t exactly kick a dog, but they do bring a zebra to their sporting club for the annual hunt.  Not seen here, but apparently 3 and 4 are stronger entries in the series.  Still, this will do in a pinch.

DOUBLE-BILL:  Elsewhere on the internet, this time from Sweden,  DET SOM GÖMS I SNÖ  /  THE TRUTH WILL OUT/’18; ‘21 might be another version of the same Cold Case set-up.  Pretty good, though without the glam lead.

SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY:  Just once, it’d be nice to see one of these over-obsessive types keep a promise to show for a family event: a school recital, Mom’s birthday dinner, Grandpa’s operation, a child’s hockey game, church choir practice!  In spite of beeps, buzzers & texts invading our screens, they can't set an alarm on their smart phone?

No comments:

Post a Comment