The Guilty: reviews

What the critics say average 8.3 from 10 outlets

• 9.0 Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan If the setting of The Guilty couldn?t be simpler, its immaculate execution by first-time director Gustav Möller couldn?t be more gripping and involving. Read
• 9.0 New York TimesJeannette Catsoulis Unfolding in real time, this immediately involving story bends and turns in surprising, sometimes horrifying ways. Enriched by Oskar Skriver?s marvelous sound editing, which takes us from a speeding van to a bloodcurdling crime scene with equal authenticity, the movie smoothly blends police procedural with character study. Read
• 8.9 The VergeBryan Bishop Thanks to Möller?s staging, a script full of twists, and a compelling performance from lead actor Jakob Cedergren, it?s a riveting, nerve-racking surprise ? and it has a few things to say about how even the best intentions can lead to disturbing abuses of power. Read
• 8.8 Roger EbertBrian Tallerico A brilliant genre exercise, a cinematic study in tension, sound design, and how to make a thrilling movie with a limited tool box. The film?s own restrictions actually amplify the tension, forcing us into the confined space of its protagonist. Read
• 8.0 The WrapJames Greenberg The film is propelled by our curiosity to see what happens more than a deep involvement with the fate of these people. But what really holds your attention is the look on Asger?s face, shot from every conceivable angle. Read
• 8.0 The Hollywood ReporterMichael Rechtshaffen Despite focusing entirely on a single individual speaking into a headset in a Danish emergency call center, The Guilty nevertheless emerges as a twisty crime thriller that?s every bit as pulse-pounding and involving as its action-oriented, adrenaline-soaked counterparts. Read
• 8.0 Screen DailyFionnuala Halligan With a terse 85-minute running time, The Guilty illustrates Möller?s confidence with the craft of film-making. Read
• 8.0 VarietyGuy Lodge Gustav Möller?s short, taut debut feature never leaves the claustrophobic confines of the call center, but builds a vivid aural suspense narrative through the receiver, all while incrementally unboxing the visible protagonist?s own frail mental state. Read
• 8.0 IndiewireEric Kohn Gustav Moller's debut is a suspenseful chamber piece in which a dispatcher frantically attempts to set things right. Read
• 7.5 Le MondeJean-François Rauger The interest, both playful and perverse, of Gustav Möller's film, which does not leave its unique scenery, lies in the narration of an action perceived only through the soundtrack. Read