Iskariot (2008) Reviews

• a compelling thriller from Sweden...

  ptb-82008-08-02

  ISCARIOT is a dynamic and thrilling new Scandanavian drama based on the Judas Iscariot bible premise of betrayal. Set in modern Stockholm and detailing the dramas between two brothers and a hideous debt also involving drug running, for International audiences ISCARIOT allows for a great sense of thrilling sinking dread in the race against time to repay a debt to a very scary crime boss played well against type by charismatic Michael Nykvist from the hit AS IT IS IN HEAVEN. Directed by Slavic helmer Miko Lazic, ISKARIOT has that terrific Euro thriller feel you might have got from the Bourne Identity films. All chrome and cold concrete, icy suburbs and wintry trees, nervous conversations in quiet rooms, ISCARIOT is that style of widescreen crime drama movie that looks great on a big cinema screen with an audience drawn completely into the emotion and action. You really have no idea what will happen next or how and that allows for an immersing piece of taut Swedish cinema. This really good thriller has a lot more going for it than you might expect.

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• excellent

  matthew_782008-04-23

  excellent movie... i like it so much... nice drama, good actors wonderful story and i hope to see again some other movie from this director. I like the photography very much i think that was perfect. i hope that this movie will be seen from other people in other countries i found this comment on the web that i totally disapprove: Family bonds are stretched to the breaking point in Swedish Miko Lazic's slick, soap opera-like thriller "Iscariot." Illustrating the film's subtitle, "Two Brothers, One Debt," Stockholm doctor Valle puts his life -- and those of his wife and daughter -- on the line to bail out his irresponsible younger brother Adam (Gustaf Skarsgard), a drug dealer and addict. Despite arty lensing and nuanced playing from Skarsgard and Michael Nvqvist as the chief villain, pix can't transcend stock situations and implausible plot twists. Slated for Swedish theaters on March 7, it's unlikely to travel. After handsome but none-too-bright Adam is robbed of a large shipment of cocaine, crime boss Masen (Nyqvist) calls in the debt. At a loss, Adam turns to his older Sib. Improbably, respectable Valle has a shady past unknown to his attractive wife , wasted in a purely ornamental role). Feeling remorse ("If I never sold that , you'd never have started using it"), Valle decides to take matters into his own hands. Mannered cinematography, full of reflections and shots through glass, feels better suited to another genre, while stiff editing rarely supports thriller rhythms.

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