Antiquated campuses, towering stone walls, gloomy weather, aloof Britons with high courtesy...several serial deaths have occurred against this backdrop. What is real and what is orderly; facts only exist in our minds or just waiting to be verified by our minds; can butterfly flapping really cause hurricanes thousands of miles away... As we move forward, we seem to understand more and more, and we seem to be more and more confused. Until the end, it was no surprise to find that the screenwriter put it together again this time. There is a sudden realization, but more of it is helpless - this story seems to irresponsibly lead us into an unsolved puzzle.
In fact, I am still not sure whether human thinking is to summarize facts or to promote facts. Perhaps it is an unverifiable proposition whether it uses logic, mathematics, or other disciplines that humans can create and discover.
I really like the tone that shrouds the film. It is not so much cold as it is too rational, and the rational has no human atmosphere. Whether it is love or death, it becomes an example, like an experimental element in a sterile environment.
There are also wonderful storyboards - especially the long shot of more than two minutes, from the concert hall to the bookstore to the murder scene, in which the subjective perspective is cleverly changed several times, concise and smooth, and hides so much information and hints. You would think you guessed something, but in fact more important information is in front of you, only to be ignored because of the presupposed conclusion. After the truth came out, I looked back and thought about it, only to find that the director's ingenious scheming had a hint of Hitchcock's style.
The actors are also better than expected. Needless to say, the actor who plays Professor Selton has become a trump card quality guarantee. Although he is widely known as Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings, I am most impressed with him in "Nazi Hunt" a few years ago. Similar character types to this film, but completely different details. I always feel that a good actor not only needs to challenge characters with great contrast, but also needs to show differences and layers when interpreting characters of the same type.
The young one seems to have also experienced the tempering of acting skills in recent years, and can gradually be called an actor. While those icy blue eyes, which always looked a little terrified, were too conspicuous - both an advantage and a disadvantage for an actor - his performance seemed to finally be able to compete with his looks.
If expecting to see a traditional American homicide story, I suggest you don't touch this movie. To me, this seems like a difficult film to categorize, but spending 100 minutes on it is never a waste—it's not easy to do in the current movie market.
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