"Nattevagten" is a slightly murkier Hitchcockian thriller than most. The script manages to hook from the beginning, with a story about a bet and a night stand that get out of control. The first act is highly entertaining, it goes into a second act that becomes a bit cloudy (the restaurant scene is quite painful), the third act is full of suspense causing one as a viewer to worry about the characters. The cinematography gives a conventional air during the day scenes and the night scenes give a sense of tension, and the camera movements are a delight. The soundtrack is quite effective especially in suspenseful scenes. The edition that looks conventional has novel moments in its way of increasing suspense. Ole Bornedal's direction is tremendous, highly inspired by the work of Alfred Hitchcock, while achieving both a tribute and a unique way of doing a thriller. The cast is quite talented, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau demonstrates his great histrionic capacity, Kim Bodnia manages to play a somewhat annoying character but who ends up really pleasing in the end, Sofie Gråbøl is tremendous in all her scenes, Lotte Andersen, Rikke Louise Andersson and Ulf Pilgaard also deliver very effective dramatic performances. A classic of Danish thriller cinema!
Review of Nightwatch
