Dir: Christoph Hochhäusler
There’s a retro 1980s feel to this noirish neon crime thriller set in Luxembourg’s louche underworld.
La Mort viendra (Death Will Come) is writer director Christoph Hochhäusler’s follow-up to his Berlinale Silver Bear winner Till the End of the Night. Screening in the main International Competition lineup in of this year’s Locarno film festival this is a tense and twisty thriller that certainly punches above its weight elevated by an evocative score and gritty monochrome street scenes reminiscent of Seventies crime fare Day of the Jackal and the French Connection although on a much more modest scale.
The film follows a stylish crime boss (Louis-Do de Lencquesain) who hires a sassy hit woman called Tez (Sophie Verbeeck) to track down one of his most valued couriers. But Tez – a sort of grown up Nikita – soon gets out of her depth and becomes entangled in a conspiracy in the criminal underworld that rather runs out of steam in the final stretch but it’s decent and watchable – and guess what? – there’s a lesbian twist. MeredithTaylor
LOCARNO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2024