Intrigo: Death of an Author

This film tells us that the gulf between what we want to know and what we can know may never be illuminated.

Perhaps when it comes to intricately strategized stories involving writers and their output, their telling would ultimately have been better served by the reader's imagination.

The stagings are stilted; the relations between the conflicted characters never catch fire.

A narrative puzzle that proves tiresome in the solving.

The film evinces neither the visceral pleasures of noir nor the precision to uncover deeper thematic resonances.

Slow-moving, convoluted, and chilly, this mystery (based on a novel by Swedish author Hakan Nesser) has the right ingredients, but it frequently feels disconnected, and it doesn't completely click.

An overwrought, dull and undercooked thriller stuffed with too many characters and not enough suspense and intrigue.

This is a movie that really wants to be a film noir, but doesn't respect the conventions of that genre in order to make it a decent one.

Despite some clever twists, these intercut stories bog down in dense narration and tangled perspective, diminishing the emotional impact.