MovieMaker’s Weekend Pick: The Hunt

Tobias Lindholm is having a very good year, and his hot streak continues with tomorrow’s national release of The Hunt.

Although I don’t get out to see as many films as I’d like to these days (truth is, I’d rather be in a dark theater watching a movie than almost anywhere else, so I suppose that statement is relative) two of the most compelling films I’ve seen on the big screen recently were both written by Mr. Lindholm. Having recently been spellbound by A Hijacking, and just as captivated by The Hunt, when I saw it the Seattle International Film Festival in early June, I can officially say I’m now a fan of this very talented artist’s work.

Until Lindholm directed A Hijacking he was best known for his collaborations with Thomas Vinterberg (The Celebration) whose helming of The Hunt is another Vinterberg master class in directing. This drama about a good-hearted kindergarten teacher wrongly accused of a crime isn’t the feel-good movie of the year, but if you appreciate cinema artists working at the top of their game, you shouldn’t miss it. Mads Mikkelsen (heretofore best known to American audiences as the creepy villain with the drippy eye in Casino Royale) has to be on a shortlist of the best actors alive today. His performance is nuanced, gripping, explosive and heartbreaking. I found myself thinking about the characters in this film and the questions it raised for weeks afterward. So much of what’s offered to American movie audiences these days goes in and out of the brain like a bad mental burrito (I think I went to something called Now You See Me recently but I honestly couldn’t tell you a thing about it now—it’s just gone) this story will actually affect you.

The Hunt, from Magnolia Pictures, opens Friday, July 12. To subscribe to MovieMaker Magazine, click here.