This movie is a classic courtroom thriller with an excellent, cozy mystery style resolution. It’s clever and surprising in all the right ways, and the ending is Hitchcockian in its drama while being more Film Noir in its style. For period courtroom dramas you can’t do much better than this.
Closest comparison: It’s like The Mysterious Affair At Styles by way of Anatomy of a Murder.
Setting: Courtroom Drama
Plot: Cozy Mystery
Tone: Noir Thriller
This movie’s insidious antagonist is so iconic he’s been mimicked in everything from Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing to The Punisher (Netflix, Season 2). It’s tense and terrifying, and elicits a palpable sense of Hitchcockian suspense. At times it seems to buck the three act narrative structure which lends it a sense of fear of the unknown, keeping the audience in the dark about where the story is going. For those who enjoy the existential dread of dark secrets in members of their community, this is a must-watch.
Content warning: marital abuse
Closest comparison: It’s like Parasite (2019) by way of Treasure of the Sierra Madre.
Setting: Western Drama
Plot: Thriller Noir
Tone: Family In Peril
