Movie Reviews: Jake Gyllenhaal channels pent-up rage in The Guilty on Netflix
Jake Gyllenhaal in The Guilty
stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Joe Baylor, a LAPD detective currently working a late shift in a 911 call centre whilst he awaits a court hearing for indiscretions unspecified. Brusque and uncaring as he deals with the public, Joe is energised when he takes a call from Emily (Riley Keough), who whispers that she has been abducted by her husband Henry (Peter Sarsgaard), and is being transported along the LA freeway to a destination unknown.Â
Springing into action, Joe starts to coordinate an investigation into Emily’s kidnap from the 911 centre, his pent-up rage building with every failure to intercept Henry’s headlong flight ... Adapted by Nic Pizzolatto from the Danish thriller Den Skylidge (2018) and directed by Antoine Fuqua, The Guilty is a superb character study in which Joe Baylor unravels before our eyes, even as he bends and breaks the rules in order to save Emily and her daughter Abby (Christiana Montoya).Â
Gyllenhaal, who is onscreen and in close-up for roughly 90% of the time, puts in a wonderfully expressive performance as Joe juggles the phones and adopts different personas for each of the characters he engages with. Reminiscent of 2013’s The Call, starring Halle Berry, the story obliges the viewer to fully engage her imagination: the most dramatic sequences take place elsewhere, with Joe listening in and helplessly trying to influence events from miles away. The result is an unusual but highly effective and nerve-shredding thriller. (Netflix)
Time to get your freak on: Freakscene: The Story of Dinosaur Jr (PG) documents the rise and fall (and rise) of one of the most influential rock bands of the past 40 years. Formed in 1982 by teenage drummer J. Mascis in Amherst, Massachusetts, on the basis that he was, musically at least, ‘sick of all the hippies’, Dinosaur Jr. – with Mascis graduating to lead guitar, Lou Barlow on bass and Murph on drums – set out to explore the discordant soundscape established by hardcore punk outfits such as Minor Threat, Hüsker Dü and Black Flag.Â
It’s overstating the case to say that they ‘influenced’ Nirvana, but there’s no doubt that the band played a hugely important part in creating a new paradigm, which is testified to here by some of indie rock’s pantheon (Kim Gordon, Henry Rollins, Thurston Moore, Bob Mould and Kevin Shields all contribute, although Frank Black’s interpretation of their impact isn’t particularly useful).Â
What is particularly fascinating is the flawed chemistry between the founding members, which grew ever more poisonous the more successful they became: Dinosaur Jr., reflects a rueful J. Mascis, ‘are more family than friends – a dysfunctional family.’ (streaming release)
