The Stranger

Wright crafts a hyper-elaborate set-up and delicate drip-feed of information which make spoilers an equal crime, but The Stranger is more of a felt experience than a traditional policier.

Taut and effective.

The Stranger is spare, disciplined storytelling with stark visuals and a strained tone.

In tone, the film is brilliantly hidden. It takes a long while to work out what’s happening. The atmosphere is gloomy, distrustful, brutal in language, with a jangly soundscape and music.

To call it an unconventionally impressive crime drama is to put it very lightly.

The Stranger definitely feels like an elevated genre exercise -- more challenging than the average crime drama but also more interesting.

The wholly absorbing, irresistible character study of two men who aren’t always who they seem to be, one haunted by the demons of his past choices and the other crippled by guilt and attempting to preserve his identity while hiding in plain sight.

If you like slow movies with tough, serious themes, based on true events, with sinister and dark characters, go for it.

To call it an impressive and offbeat crime drama is putting it very lightly. [Full review in Spanish]

An annoying chore. A stronger second half comes some way in making the ordeal worth it if you haven’t already dropped off for a tactical mid-fest snooze.