Whodunit in a northern Italy hamlet
After a girl goes missing in a remote village in the Italian Alps, a renowned detective that resorts to dubious methods to apprehend his prey (Toni Servillo) is brought in to solve the possible crime. Alessio Boni plays a teacher who falls under suspicion while Jean Reno is on hand as a psychologist.
An Italian production, “The Girl in the Fog” (2017) is a psychological whodunit mystery reminiscent of films like “The Clovehitch Killer” (2018), “Lantana” (2001), “The River King” (2005) and “Snow Angels” (2007). While it’s good, it’s the least of these due to a TV-movie vibe where the northern Italy locations are rarely taken advantage of and the focus is on indoor sets with relative close-ups.
Another issue is the last act’s explanation of everything that’s going on, which takes some serious suspension of disbelief (no spoilers). The motive of the antagonist is weak, the scheme too elaborate and the coincidence of a notable person living in that area, plus linked to the case, is simply not believable.
Still, it’s dramatically compelling up to that point and I liked the emphasis on the media fleshing out clues & the culprit (or, just as likely, creating a witch hunt); even the climax is clever as long as you understand that you're watching an alternative reality.
The film runs 2 hours, 8 minutes, and was shot Alto Adige, Italy. It was not dubbed in English so, if you don’t speak Italian and you’re an English-speaker, you’ll have to use the subtitles.
GRADE: B-
