Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Senteur As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

Tobias Burrows It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

diogoffernandes I have read the book first and the film is a little bit disappointing. The characters in the book are much more intense. The unfolding of the plot is not according to the book, which makes certain moments too meaningless and with no connection. All the characters are in the movie but with no light, Joona is just a simple person. I admit I have big expectations because the book is just perfect with a lot of emotion, feeling and suspense. In almost all of the movie I don't feel the thriller or the suspense. I recommend read the book and if you want see the movie but with no expectations. After all, don't miss the books of Joona Lina.

morrison-dylan-fan Being keen to get updated on what is happening in the UK after the "Brexit" vote,I took a look at the Twitter and YouTube pages of liarpoliticians. Near the top of the Twitter feed,I noticed him mention about watching a good Nordic Noir film on the BBC.Tracking down the title on iPlayer,I got set to meet the hypnotist.The plot-Christmas time:Going to investigate the mass murder of a family (what a start to the Christmas season!) police officer Joona Linna finds the son (Josef) just about still alive.Taking Josef to ER,Linna tries to get info out of Josef about who did the killings,but is told by hospital staff that due to the state he is in,it will take some time before Josef is fit for questioning.Desperate to track the killer down,Linna decides to take an "alternative" route and hires hypnotist Erik Maria Bark to hypnotise Josef.As Bark starts to dip deeper into Josef's mind,a mysterious person involved with the killings,decides to show Bark that they are not happy with his involvement.View on the film:Casting a Christmas spirit over the Nordic Noir chill,co- writer/(along with Paolo Vacirca) director Lasse Hallström uses streets paved with snow to give this slice of X-Mas Noir some extra icy vibes. Diving into the Nordic Noir with elegant tracking shots hanging on the anxiety gripping Linna and Bark over finding the killer, Hallström & cinematographer Mattias Montero unexpectedly cuts into the Slasher genre,where chop-happy edits and stilted,swinging in the shadows give the tense,decayed Noir mood a visceral fury.Spread from the novel by Alexander Ahndoril and Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril, (credited as the "godfathers" of Nordic Noir)the screenplay by Vacirca and Hallström cover the skin of Linna and Bark in shivering goosebumps,as the fog from Josef's memories pulls them to the knife edge of the killer,which the writers brilliantly use to open up the deeply flawed Noir background hovering over Bark. Bringing down the X-Mas lights,the writers freeze the despair tied round Bark and Linna to cut into the Slasher zone,that despite not pushing major changes on the sub-genre, (complete with mommy issues!) gives Linna's Noir investigation a brittle, threatening atmosphere.Joining her husband Hallström, Lena Olin gives a very good performance as Simone Bark,whose outbursts of fear over her husband sinking deeper into the case Olin sends as a reverberating chill across the screen. Determined to fully uncover what took place at the family killing, Tobias Zilliacus gives a great performance as Linna,with the frustrations and hard-nosed aggression of Linna being carved on Zilliacus's face. Bringing fractured memories into focus, Mikael Persbrandt gives an excellent performance as Erik Maria Bark.Trying to keep the "troubles" with his hypnotising of the past hidden under ice, Persbrandt brilliantly wraps Bark in a shaken,intense Nordic Noir desire to prove his methods work,and also to keep the killer from stabbing into his family life,as Bark hypnotises the Nordic Noir.

kristian1987 The film is quite enjoyable but it does not come close to the book. I think this is the main reason why the movie has such a low rating: majority of people watching this film were first readers of the book. I did not expect word for word adaptation of the book, but this film does not do justice to the story. It alters and reinvent the story. It takes a few motives from the book but that's it. I was quite disappointment. Maybe I am biased and I'm judging the film in comparison to the book. But what can I say, the screen play is just bad. What it has me baffled is, why did the two authors allow the release of the movie in state as it is? If only goal was commercial success than I am deeply disappointed.

Bene Cumb Although the plot is based on a solid book, there are too many too long scenes not providing additional value to the film (especially those in the darkness) - apparently, the world-famous director Lasse Halström wanted to act in the line of Wallander-Beck-Blomkvist type of films, but the Linna- Mark tandem is less elaborated and weaker; well, Mikael Persbrandt is great as Erik Maria Bark, so is Lena Olin as Simone Bark, but they are both long-time highly recognised character actors. The plot has also several confusing and unanswered moments, the ending gives a solution (rather dramatic and peculiar), but it is strange why the film was selected as the Swedish entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar - it is definitely not among the top films with Hallström's participation. Nevertheless, it is watchable to those fond of Swedish crime thrillers.