From now until Sept. 18, DigitalJournal.com will review select films debuting at the Toronto International Film Fest (TIFF), from major hits to foreign flicks.
Dark alleys. Lots of shadows. And frowning. That’s what you’ll see in the first half of Bad Faith, a film directed by Sweden’s Kristian Petri. It’s billed as a psychological thriller but too bad all that morose darkness fails to jumpstart the heartbeat.
We meet Mona, a quiet woman who stumbles upon a dying man. She doesn’t help him but instead curiously touches his stab wound and then freaks out by washing her hands obsessively. It’s reminiscent of the guilt Shakespare wrote about it with “out out, damn spot!” from Macbeth. But Mona doesn’t feel too remorseful, and in fact becomes obsessed with a serial killer who’s been on a wild spree.
Mona turns distant to her co-workers, and analyzes police sketches of the suspect. She then meets a man named Frank, randomly, and here the story gets a bit unbelievable. He’s a stranger and she obviously feels uncomfortable around him at first; but then she warms up to Frank, inexplicably. Why? We never know. These are just one of the many holes in Bad Faith.
As Frank and Mona’s relationship deepens, so does her nighttime hobby of tracking the serial killer’s next hunt. There’s lots of running and creeping, ducking behind and under cars, but the tension feels lacklustre. Petri tries to keep the action short and snappy, but it only crackles for several seconds and then fades. He obviously wants the long panning shots and the constant anxious facial expression to say more than physical combat, but it becomes monotonous.
The dance of love between Frank and Mona is momentarily intriguing, especially when seduction slides into the film halfway through. But I’ll admit, I have never seen a sex scene so passionless it’s uncomfortable to watch. Perhaps that’s what Petri wanted to do, considering how Mona’s mind is still obsessing over the serial killer.
Sonja Richter, who plays Mona, works wonders with just a fearful glance or flippant smirk, and it’s obvious she’s mastered this role. Jonas Karlsson as Frank does a serviceable job being cold and then warm, but he mumbles his lines and looks bored with his own expressions.
The slow build to the film’s climax is under-whelming. The last 20 minutes of Bad Faith is truly engrossing, and that’s the tense action we’ve been dying to see. Too bad the filmgoers who walked out in the middle of the film didn’t see the big payoff, if only to realize what Petri was building towards.
