Dark Murders (2016)

Dark Murders (2016) a.k.a. Dark Crimes

Another relatively serious role for Jim Carrey. Another relatively sexual role for Charlotte Gainsbourg! These two definitely like to pile it on, if I may say so!!!

A kind of dramatic thriller. This film is intriguing and mysterious… but, unfortunately, it is also long and deeply boring. The atmosphere is gloomy and the images are very dark. It’s hard to find any of it excellent, or even very good.

This film was made in the United States, Poland and the United Kingdom. The director, Alexandros Avranas, has really messed up his film. It’s light years away from being a masterpiece. I’m glad he hasn’t made any other films, for the sake of humanity and especially cinema!

The awfulness of Dark Crimes is all the more surprising given that it brings together talent from all over the world: a Greek director, two internationally renowned lead actors, one French (Charlotte Gainsbourg) and the other Canadian-American (Jim Carrey), and a shoot in Poland.

Stick with The Truman Show (1998), possibly The Number 23 (2007) and, above all, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004).

The first scene hints at a dark, 8mm-style film… but what we end up with is a kind of sedated French TV series. The first few seconds are enough to set the tone: a voyeuristic rip-off of Norwegian crime thrillers, reminding us that contemporary Polish cinema, when seeking to export itself, explores sex in all its forms in the hope of stirring up controversy.

Unhealthy, uninteresting, with a few good actors who seem to have lost their way, for reasons unknown. I felt an uncomfortable boredom, which lasted until the final surprise. The ending isn’t too bad… even if the phrase ‘All that for this?’ has never been more apt than here.

The French dubbing is atrocious, if ever there was such a thing!

The film isn’t long, but it feels too long. This is due to a lack of stakes, action and empathy for these poorly developed characters. The situations are grotesque, and you wonder if, at times, the actors were playing the same scene. The interrogation is a gem.

The story is, in fact, very loosely based on a real case. It’s just a shame that the television documentary about the real case is much more exciting than this bag of vodka-soaked potatoes. The dialogue is awful when there is any. Charlotte, as usual, shows off her anatomy, and one wonders what she is doing in this film. Some say she is even more pathetic than usual. Yet she is talented. But you certainly can’t see it here!

There is no emotion from anyone in the film. It’s as if the director edited a film with missing pieces.

A complete failure! But I’m not giving the lowest rating to the actors… even though they’re not necessarily at the top of their game or their art. You’d have a much better time staring at a wall for two hours straight.