Gorky Park

Three bodies with their faces destroyed are found in a Moscow park. The militia investigator on the case expects it to be taken away from him, and it is not, which worries him more. The film takes its tension from the uncertainty between institutions rather than from the killer; not knowing whom he is working for, the investigator hesitates at every step. The narrative uses the cold war shape without placing its hero on a side. Michael Apted directed, with William Hurt and Lee Marvin, adapting Martin Cruz Smith's novel. It could not be shot in Moscow and was made in Helsinki. Who it's for: those who like eighties cold war thrillers. Who it's not for: viewers wanting a fast police story; the film is long and detailed.