(MENAFN- Arab Times) LOS ANGELES Sept 19 (Agencies): It's not for nothing that the names of Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe are reverentially referenced in writer-director Scott Frank's adaptation of the 10th novel in Lawrence Block's long-running best-selling series featuring unlicensed private eye Matthew Scudder. Distinctly and proudly old-fashioned in its retro film noir vibe 'A Walk Among the Tombstones' is notable for its dark atmospherics and strong performance by Liam Neeson in the latest example of his unlikely late career transformation into an action hero. Scudder is a terrific character whose casting choice its creator heartily approved expertly embodies with his usual physically commanding presence and world-weary gravitas. The film's tense 1991-set opening scene efficiently provides the character's backstory as an alcoholic NYC cop who gave up the booze and the badge when his shootout with some bad guys on the streets of New York City went tragically awry. Cut to 1999 when he's working as unlicensed private investigator who explains that 'I do favors for people. in return they give me gifts.' Enlisted by fellow AA meeting attendee and drug addict Peter (Boyd Holbrook) Scudder reluctantly takes a case involving Peter's prosperous drug-dealing brother Kenny (Dan Stevens in a sharp departure from his heartthrob role in 'Downton Abbey') whose wife was kidnapped and returned dead despite his having paid a $400000 ransom. Kenny demands that Scudder find the culprits and bring them to him for retribution that clearly doesn't involve the legal system. After the discovery of another female victim this time left in pieces in trash bags in a park in Brooklyn's historic Greenwood Cemetery the trail eventually leads to a pair of serial killers (David Harbour Adam David Thompson) who target criminals so as to avoid their getting the authorities involved. After discovering their identity from the cemetery's groundskeeper (a very creepy Olafur Darri Olafsson) Scudder pursues the sociopathic duo with the unlikely help of TJ (Brian 'Astro' Bradley) a homeless black teenager who aspires to being a gumshoe himself. Things come to a head after the kidnapping of the young daughter of a Russian drug dealer (Sebastian Roche) with Scudder getting directly involved in the ensuing negotiations. The film's final act featuring violent set pieces in a basement and the spooky nighttime environs of the cemetery ratchets up the action considerably. At one point Scudder explains to his young apprentice that the main attribute a private eye must possess is a 'strong bladder.' Viewers may need one as well to get through the film's dull middle section filled with long talky patches in which nothing much really happens. The compensation is that Neeson's emotionally reticent hero is consistently engaging and refreshingly vulnerable preferring to talk his way out of tense situations. Director Frank clearly has an affinity for the material investing the proceedings with a darkly compelling atmosphere that recalls the best noirs of the 1940s and 1950s. The film benefits greatly from having been shot in various seedy NYC neighborhoods not to mention the spooky gothic cemetery that inspires the title with cinematographer Mihai Malaimare Jr. ('The Master') delivering a desaturated color palette accentuating the overall gloominess. At times the convoluted plotting proves too baroque for its own good and the subplot involving Scudder's mentoring of the sassy teen who we eventually learn suffers from sickle-cell anemia is both silly and distracting. The climactic shootout is marred by a too-fussy staging employing freeze frames and a juxtaposition of the tenants of the 12-Step program. 'A Walk Among the Tombstones' a Universal release is rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America for 'strong violence disturbing images language and brief nudity.' Running time: 113 minutes. 'The Reaper' a tense nuanced drama from helmer Zvonimir Juric ('The Blacks'). Aided by a superb seasoned cast and stellar camerawork from Branko Linta (a prizewinner at the Pula Film Festival) Juric captures the atmosphere of volatility and despair in a place where former deeds are not easily forgotten and the recent past is still a raw wound. Festival programmers should take note. Set in a rural part of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia the opening scenes establish a mood of tension and dread as a lone woman leaves her stalled vehicle and walks down a dark deserted road in the middle of the night. Juric and Linta cleverly play with audience expectations and horror-film conventions by shooting the woman Mirjana (Mirjana Karanovic) from the back and from above. In spite of the hour sad-eyed tight-lipped Ivo (Ivo Gregurevic) is at work in a cornfield harvesting with a giant reaper. He drives the nervous woman back to her car determines that she is out of gas and then takes her to a petrol station. But anxiety mounts when the station attendant Josip (Igor Kovac) noting her chauffeur offers to drive her back himself telling her that Ivo went to prison 20 years before for raping a woman. The way in which this revelation and its aftermath play out is superbly executed and could serve as a master class in both cinematography and acting. Juric continues to up the tension as Ivo slowly drives the tractor back to Mirjana's car making her practically ill with fear. Although he tells her not to be afraid viewers might assume the contrary when he pockets the car keys that have fallen out of her purse. The second story centers on Josip after he has closed the petrol station and arrives at a local bar where he celebrates the news of his brother's impending fatherhood. As the guests drink and grow rowdy physical violence flares where least expected. Burly bar owner Rodic (Zlatko Buric) breaks up the quarrel and takes the distracted Josip to sit in a private room in back with a group of men who fought together in the war. Local cop Kreso (Nikola Ristanovski) whom we first see paying a call on Ivo turns out to be the protagonist of the third story. And it is through his eyes that we learn even more about Ivo a man who has been defined and isolated by his crime just as the region in which he lives is still trapped in the thrall of the war. Juric and co-screenwriter Jelena Paljan underscore the theme of being trapped and not able to move forward in numerous ways. From the lonely Ivo who is practically deprived of human contact to the ruined men who sit and drink with Radic the aftermath of the war and its concurrent dark deeds are omnipresent if rarely spoken of. Barely repressed this unsavory past lingers like the holes in the floor which Kreso's beautiful wife Ana (Lana Baric) covers with a carpet or the sad time capsule of a room at the factory farm where Ivo lives. Iconic thesps Gregurevic and Karanovic do some of the best work of their careers while younger-generation performer Kovac makes the most of a key part. (Gregurevic and Kovac both won acting prizes at Pula.) The evocative tech package is aces in every respect with Jura Ferina and Pavao Miholjevic's melancholy score and Julij Zornik's sound design especially worthy of mention. Offering a unique take on the moving picture 'In the Crosswind' is a black-and-white slice of history that mixes live-action with living tableaux to provide a requiem for the inhabitants of the Baltic countries who in the summer of 1941 were deported to Siberia or killed on Stalin's orders.; the extraordinary visual techniques he uses to convey a sense of being frozen in time won't be to all tastes but those open to a different sort of cinema will find it a very poignant experience. Although the film depicts events from more than seven decades ago the recent Russian annexation of Crimea lends it a sense of urgency. If history truly does consist of patterns that repeat themselves then 'In the Crosswind' serves as a timely warning. Through well-modulated voiceover narration the pic adopts the perspective of a pretty Estonian wife and mother Erna (Laura Peterson) whose Siberian diary with its acute observations provides the inspiration for the film. There is no dialogue; instead Helde employs a highly crafted sound design that includes affecting music imagined diegetic background sounds and the occasional muffled murmuring of voices in Estonian or Russian. Before June 14 1941 Erna lives in a rural idyll with her husband Heldur (Tarmo Song) a farmer and member of the Estonian Defense League and their young daughter Eliide (Mirt Preegel). Although some of their friends and relatives more prescient about the fate of Estonia during the war years urge them to flee they decide to remain in their homeland. From the moment that the Soviet forces arrive at their farm time takes on another dimension for Erna. To underscore this radical change the style of the pic changes too. As Erna's voice describes events and her feelings the camera slowly pans circles and snakes in between groupings of people frozen in a moment of chaos and panic. Mothers reach out to their children men grasp weapons Soviet soldiers snarl. The tableau vivant style remains in effect until 1954 when Erna is allowed to return home. We see women and children on their way to Siberia by train suffering in crowded cattle cars. Unbeknownst to them their men bloodied and filthy endure torture in prison camps and eventual execution. By the time Erna reaches the remote snowy kolkhoz (Siberian collective farm) where she and the other 'enemies of the people' are stationed their ranks have thinned through hunger and disease. They are forced to perform difficult and dangerous lumberjack work and given only a mere 200 grams of bread a day with no special allowance for the children. One of the most emotionally wrenching tableaux depicts Erna in the act of stealing some bread for the ailing Eliide. Per press notes each of the 13 tableaux required two to six months of preparation and only one day of shooting. In addition to obtaining or creating historically accurate costumes and props Helde and lenser Erik Pollumaa studied paintings sculptures and even the Alexander technique to mold the actors' postures and expressions in the most dynamic way. Responding brilliantly to a different sort of acting challenge stage and screen performer Peterson evokes a full range of emotions with her voice and static body. The innovative craft package fully supports the director's intent with the impressive widescreen lensing a standout.
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