Wednesday, May 23, 2012

The Candidate (Kandidaten)



Jonas seems distant since the death of his father, who was once a successful lawyer and died under mysterious circumstances. The protagonist, convinced that his father was the victim of a plot, takes advantage of his status as a promising young lawyer to uncover the truth. Until, one day, he wakes up in a hotel room next to the corpse of a woman.

This is the major premise of "Kandidaten", a thriller, just an hour and half long, in which many things happen at an almost dizzying speed. The script is generous in turns around the plot, characters come and go, all kinds of hypotheses are arised and eliminated into the heart of the mystery.


Jonas is in a relationship with Camilla, a college professor who sees her boyfriend unable to get rid of the thoughts generated from the death of his father; spending all his time absorbed in his own thoughts, trying to find the truth.

The couple barely talks, there is no type of communication. Jonas ends up in a bar with a friend and ends up with a woman, who, the next morning, is dead in a bathroom, showing signs of having been strangled.


Facing this situation, there are two possibilities: either call the police or flee the crime scene. This last one is the option Jonas chooses. He will then receive a tape in which he can see what happened during the crime.

Later Jonas investigates and finds out that someone wants to incriminate him, because "nothing is as it seems":here lies one of the attractions of the film, which thus plays with the viewers, without confusing them.


When all that's unknown seem to be getting clear, the typical ace under the hole is shown. "Kandidaten" is well told, has a nice rhythm, the protagonist is convincing in his loneliness and anger and the result is satisfactory, achieving its main purpose of making us spend a pleasant time.

Director: Kasper Barfoed
Writer: Stefan Jaworski
Stars: Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Ulf Pilgaard and Laura Christensen

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