Detectives Jonas and Erik are called to the midnight sun country of northern Norway to investigate a recent homicide, but their plan to arrest the killer goes awry, and Jonas mistakenly shoots Erik. The suspect escapes, and a frightened Jonas pins Erik's death on the fugitive. Jonas continues to pursue the killer as he seeks to protect himself; however, his mounting guilt and the omnipresent sun plague him with an insomnia that affects his sanity.
Acting
Skarsgård's eyes say everything his mouth denies
Cinematography
That bleached-out midnight sun is its own character
Direction
Skjoldbjærg makes exhaustion viscerally cinematic
Director
Erik Skjoldbjærg
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This basically invented 'Nordic noir' before the rest of the world caught up. The midnight sun as psychological torture device? Pure Norwegian genius.
Christopher Nolan's 2002 remake swaps the moral murk for Pacino-vs-Williams showdown energy—Skarsgård's Jonas is far more quietly, terrifyingly ordinary.
NO
