Nightwatch

Martin, a law student, takes a night job as a watchman at a forensic institute. The work is simple: walk the corridors every hour and press a button. The building is empty, the morgue is downstairs, and the lights come on one by one. In the same weeks a serial killer is murdering prostitutes in the city and the bodies come to that building. Martin and his friend Jens play a game of dares on each other, and the rules of the game steadily move him onto the police list of suspects. The tension comes from the place: long corridors, closed drawers, the logbook. The story lets you sense who the killer is early, and the real question becomes how Martin will clear himself. Ole Bornedal wrote and directed. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau plays Martin. It did very well in Denmark, and three years later Bornedal remade his own film in America; the version with Ewan McGregor came from the same script and was found much weaker. Who it is for: anyone who likes Nordic thrillers and nineties serial killer films. Who it is not for: anyone uncomfortable with morgue scenes. The film shows bodies directly, the women exist as victims, and the resolution is rushed.