THE STRANGER
Updated: Feb 7, 2023
It truly is remarkable how The Stranger, boasted by a couple of stand-out lead performances, manages to get under your skin and create an unease that is impossible to shake off.
The Stranger might be based on real events, the picture doesn't take the conventional true crime route.
In this tale about a detective who goes undercover to secure a confession from a child kidnapper director Thomas M. Wright creatively plays with narrative timelines and striking, evocative images to heighten the tension, which is present throughout the film, even in the smallest of scenes. It truly is remarkable how The Stranger manages to get under your skin and create an unease that is impossible to shake off.
The picture is also aided by a couple of standout performances by character actors Sean Harris and Joel Edgerton. The former finds exactly the right balance between soft-spoken menace and surprising vulnerability while the latter excels at the gradual weariness that creeps in after months without results.
The Stranger isn't a perfect film however: the supporting players lack depth and the denouement drags a little. But overall the picture is a taut, suspenseful thriller that stands a great chance at ending up in my top ten of the year.
release: 2022
director: Thomas M. Wright
starring: Sean Harris, Joel Edgerton, Jada Alberts, Cormac Wright
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