No Man of God

In 1984 a young analyst from the FBI's behavioural science unit goes to a prison to talk with a serial killer awaiting execution. The interviews stretch over years. The killer plays games at first, then starts talking; the analyst realises the man genuinely trusts him and is disturbed by the relationship. The subject is not the murders but who owns the room between the two men. The film shows no killing at all; there is not one image of a victim. The whole business is how the people on either side of the table use each other. The form is almost entirely conversation. The same interview room, the same two chairs, and the only thing that changes over time is the manner of the two men. The camera rarely goes outside. The source is real records. The screenplay is based on transcripts of the interviews between the FBI analyst Bill Hagmaier and Ted Bundy; most of what is said in the film was not invented. Elijah Wood plays the analyst and Luke Kirby the killer. Amber Sealey directs, and her effort to avoid the tone of fascination common to serial killer narratives is plain. Who it is for: viewers who like true crime adaptations that refuse sensation. Who it is not for: anyone waiting for events; the film is two people talking from beginning to end.