Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
Director: Danis Tanović, Defiant Screen Entertainment.
The theme of this film is disconcerting when it comes to unravelling some macabre killings. This screen adaptation of the 2010 best-selling crime thriller of the same name by James Patterson and Liza Marklund is a lawbreaking drama. Marklund, who also worked on the screenplay, is a best-selling Swedish crime writer.
Oscar-winning No Man’s Land director Danis Tanović takes away the lustre from the story of a New York detective named Jacob Kanon (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), who makes it his mission to hunt down those who murdered his daughter in London, the victim of an apparent serial killer. She was killed while on her honeymoon in London, along with her husband.
With the help of investigative journalist Dessie Leonard (Cush Jumbo), who is based in Sweden, and some fellow lawmen, Jacob uncovers a pattern of gruesome murders, each preceded by the arrival of a mysterious postcard.
Kanon becomes directly involved in the case for very personal reasons. He soon learns that similar crimes are occurring in various European countries, leading him on a nation-hopping mission where he’s repeatedly obstructed in his efforts by local authorities.
While Kanon travels across Europe in pursuit of the serial killers, the murders aren’t publicised, but graphic details of the bodies are shown, drained of blood and posed to resemble classic works of art.
The culprits telegraph their crimes by sending postcards to journalists with such cryptic phrases as “Til death do us part”, “Love will never die” and “Watch the innocent die,” each followed by ellipses.
There’s not much suspense in the film’s mystery elements. Once the hero and his allies zero in on a suspect, their primary task is to learn more about the killer’s background and decipher the clues to the next strike. It’s methodical from thereon in.
Name the co-author who is a Swedish crime writer. If your answer is correct, then you could win one of three DVDs of The Postcard Killings. Entries should be sent to [email protected] by Monday, 31 August 2020. Names of the winners will be announced in Frank Cassidy’s PS-sssst…! column on 1 September 2020.
