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Go shoppingMichael Noer’s Danish crime thriller Northwest treads familiar ground with its eye-for-an-eye narrative, but it has many saving graces and offers something fresh for fans of the genre.
Northwest follows two petty crooks, brothers from a tough Copenhagen neighbourhood who become embroiled in events too big for them as they are forced to take a gangland feud in to their own hands. Casper is a burglar who struggles to make ends meet and support his family; as things turn sour with his employers, he meets the mysterious Bjorn who offers Casper a job too good to turn down. Driving prostitutes to their appointments and serving as Bjorn’s general dogsbody earns him big cash, but it isn’t long until his old boss claims ownership over Casper’s services and treads on Bjorn’s toes in the process. Casper is forced to clean up the collateral damage but, as his misled brother is drawn deeper in to Bjorn’s web of crime, he will find he has few allies as the walls close in all around him.
This well-worn plot becomes more of a check list in the first act. The conflicted thief – check. Bar fight – check. Drug consumption – check. Shaky camera work – check. It took me a while to warm up to Northwest, but Michael Noer’s eye for detail lends the film a believability that will keep you watching and this is key in getting the audience to buy in to his gritty portrait of Copenhagen. Whether in the comedic distractions between the characters as they plunder a suburban home or through the blare of a nightclub’s sound system that all but cuts out the character’s dialogue as the scene builds in tension, Noer finds ways to add texture to a linear and often predictable narrative.
Why two crime bosses were so possessive over one apparently insignificant subordinate was beyond me, but the deeper Casper gets with his new associates the more we feel his entrapment and we realise fairly quickly that there will be no way out for him. The fatherly yet aggressive Bjorn was well portrayed by Roland Moller and compliments the understated performance of Gustav Dyekjaer Giese as Casper. Casper’s betrayal in the films finale was sudden and felt completely out of context, however, as if it was tacked on with the sole purpose of breaking audience expectation.
Unfortunately, it just felt frustratingly unbelievable; there was a good idea there and it made Casper’s alienation absolute, but Noer should have dedicated more of the plot towards its execution. Narrative issues aside, Noer shoots the film with real craft, opting for a more realistic approach yet demonstrating masterful subtlety in his portrayal of violence and grit. He didn’t insult our intelligence and shower gore needlessly; we get that a punch was thrown, a gun was shot, two characters are having sex. It would have been pandering to genre clichés and Michael Noer refused to let said action distract us from the story at hand. He trades it for a different kind of realism through his characters and their flawed choices, much to the film’s benefit. The low key lighting was also fitting, the overcast days shadowing the character’s daily activities and the dirty, unflattering lighting of the bars, clubs and hotels illuminating them at night. All of this with the absence of any real soundtrack was very effective and creates a crime film uninterested in glamorisation.
It was hard to get a sense of orientation and the film felt like it could have taken place almost anywhere. Michael Noer and cinematographer Magnus Nordenhof Jonck project a limited view of Copenhagen itself, reflecting the insular nature of the characters and their empires. This cramped environment lends itself well to the situations about to reach boiling point and during scenes where the characters are pursued down narrow streets and busy roads, we’re not even granted the grace of an establishing shot to pull us out or to tell us where we are in relation to the antagonists.This raises the stakes and adds to the tension that the film sometimes deftly weaves. Northwest sometimes goes as far as to try and address racial conflict in the city, but unfortunately, for one unfamiliar with Danish culture, this wasn’t something that resonated or held much context.
No, Northwest won’t appeal to a broader audience, but it knows its genre and sticks to its guns. It may not answer the wider questions it tries to address but something that could have fallen flat is saved by a sharp eye for detail and a subtlety sometimes lost in the genre.
About Jake Munn
Jake Munn tutors media at an alternative learning provision in Hertfordshire by day and directs short and corporate films by night. He fits writing fiction in between. Favourite film - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.
