Rating:PG-13 (Brief Strong Language|Thematic Material|Suicide)
Genre: Drama
Original Language:Dutch
Director: Lukas Dhont
Producer: Michiel Dhont, Dirk Impens
Writer: Lukas Dhont, Angelo Tijssens
Runtime: 1h 45m
Watch Close Netfix Movie Trailer & Video
The stoic, no-nonsense protagonist of “Close” is a female security specialist named Sam. From the start of the film, when Sam and her team are protecting journalists against rifle-wielding soldiers, to countless scenes where she overcomes would-be killers by any means necessary, it’s clear that director Vicky Jewson has taken inspiration from female leads like “Haywire” and “Atomic Blonde”—movies with women characters who would traverse the country alongside an crusty old Clint Eastwood character without exchanging a single word and insist it was the best trip they ever went on.
The movie tries to humanize her, but the way it approaches it is so cut-and-dry and straightforward that the emotional arc of his story loses its relatability and intrigue. However, this film doesn’t merely answer a question you never would have thought to ask in a movie about a similarly strong male character; it tears down the veil of mystery shrouding him. There’s nothing fresh about the story, which is essentially “Man on Fire” remade as “Woman on Fire.” But there almost never is in action pictures. The genre revolves around the director’s visual style, fight scenes and stunts, and performers’ attitudes. “Close” excels in all these areas, minus one scene. That moment arrives after it seems to lose its nerve and decides to explain a character who—as written by Jewson and Rupert Whitaker, and as performanced by Rapace—was more compelling when they were let be an unstoppable force majeure.
Despite the little blip on the road, this is a tight and tough film that gets right into the thriller-esque part of the story without missing a beat. It’s filmed in such a way that you’ll buy it even when Sam is mowing down foe after foe. The cinematography splits the difference between Jason Bourne-style Cuisinart editing and lean filmmaking, like in a fat-free Yakuza thriller like “Sonatine”—where violence happens out of nowhere, but where he learns to keep his cool while still maiming and killing and setting things on fire. The director and her cinematographer Malte Rosenfeld excel in beauty of landscape the characters move through, but they never linger there. That choice made sense for a movie about a woman who enters each new space wondering where exits are, and noting which ordinary household items can be used as weapons.
From the first moment we see Sophie Nelisse’s Zoe on screen and right up until the final shot, Noomi Rapace holds our full attention. It’s not every day you get to watch one of the most intense and demanding roles… But it feels like – if any actress could do it justice – it would be her. Sam is loosely based on Jacquie Davis, a bodyguard with a long list of celebrities as clients: Nicole Kidman, J.K. Rowling, and the British royal family. Davis has expertise in surveillance and rescue operations – skills which come in handy in this film. Not to mention that she is a skilled at using her left hand to blind an attacker with wasp spray while stabbing another man with her right.
Zoe’s latest movie, “The Big No-No,” starts off with a bang! She has fresh cuts on her face from the opening firefight, but rather than glamorizing them, this speaks to the movie’s focus on showcasing the gritty realism of war. The script does a fantastic job of defining Zoe’s relationship with a sullen teenager. As it turns out, she was an only child who became the majority stockholder in Hassine Mining right before a merger that would have given China complete control over the company. Given her family history, there are tons of people who want Zoe dead–and they might be more successful in getting their way than they realize because Zoe has had a few secrets up her sleeve…
In the movie “Close,” Zoe exclaims “You’re not my mom” when Sam intervenes to stop a guy from taking her home. Of course, by the end of the film it turns out Sam kind of is her mom- that’s how these movies work. It’s all about the way you get there. “Close” does a great job at showing Zoe move through the world, checking everything out, doing mental math to keep her distance from people until she’s ready kill them. The action in this film is hard to follow so close but understandable- it is brutal and sadistic in parts but always has an explanation. It suffers a little when they want to go into Zoe’s backstory, but Zoe herself and Jodie Foster’s performance are fascinating and make up for the lack of explanations.