by Matt St Clair
Despite being a proponent of Bong Joon-ho's advice to overcome the "one-inch barrier" of subtitles, I confess that I never got around to seeing the popular Danish film The Guilty (2018) which became an Oscar finalist for Best International Feature in its year. As a result of this blind spot, none of my thoughts on the new English-language remake will pertain to how it measures up to the original. Instead, let's talk about what a tense one man show this is.
Although Jake Gyllenhaal has actors surrounding him, both in-person and through vocal performances on the telephone, The Guilty is laser focused on his character, 911 dispatcher Joe Baylor. Joe is on the phone trying to save a woman named Emily (voiced by a skillfully elusive Riley Keough) who’s being kidnapped by her ex-husband...
As Joe attempts to track her changing location, he deals with his troubled relationship with his ex-wife (voiced by Gillian Zenser) and those involved with his eventual court hearing regarding an event that caused him to be demoted from his police officer position to the call center he currently works in.
If you've been following Gyllenhaal's career it absolutely won't surprise you to hear that Jake Gyllenhaal gives a performance of immense commitment once again. Through just phone conversations, Gyllenhaal is able to reveal multiple facets of his messy anti-hero. When Joe first logs on for the day, he arrogantly brushes off the concerns of a man calling for an ambulance, showing just how badly he hates being at this particular desk doing this job. However, the unease Joe feels as he tries staying on the line with Emily to save her life shows an attempt at atoning for his past wrongs.
The tension of Joe’s relentless pursuit is only heightened by the close-ups of Gyllenhaal’s sweating face along with the shots of him squeezing his stress ball andbreathing through his inhaler. Thanks to both smart camera work from DP Maz Makhani, and editing from Jason Ballantine, The Guilty feels like a 90-minute panic attack. While that's distressing, it's certainly doing a fine job of placing the audience in the restless shoes of the protagonist.
Because Joe is a white cop with the warrior mindset of “Kick the door in first, ask questions later,” and has one of his colleagues do exactly that at one point, it highlights the script’s undercooked commentary on American policing. Given the change in countries they should have rethought this. In our current socio-political climate, The Guilty will likely beg the question of why viewers should be engaged in the redemption of a cop who has people do the door-kicking even when he himself can’t.
If anything, Jake Gyllenhaal elevates the muddled screenplay with his fervent, intricate performance. It's arguably his best turn since Nightcrawler. He’s the beating heart of this flawed yet pulsating one-location thrill ride. B+
The Guilty is currently streaming on Netflix.