Right
now, Norway’s economy is a lot like our own.
There are way more job-seekers than open positions to fill. At such times, if a recruiter sends you on an
interview, you go, even though you might be leaving a few stray valuable
objects d’art lying about your home unguarded.
That is Roger Brown’s racket, but it turns unexpectedly deadly in Morten
Tyldum’s Headhunters (trailer here), which opens this
Friday in New York and also screens this afternoon as part of the 2012 San FranciscoInternational Film Festival.
Brown
is a man slight of stature, married to his bombshell wife, Diana. Suffering from a king-sized inferiority
complex, he has allowed them to live beyond their means by burglarizing the
homes of his executive search clients.
With his house of cards on the brink of collapse, Brown’s prayers appear
to be answered in the person of Claes Greve.
Not only is the former tech CEO the perfect candidate for a plum
position Brown must fill, he also owns a genuine Rubens painting of rather
dodgy providence. Win-win, right?
However,
when Brown starts to suspect the younger man and his wife are carrying-on an
affair behind his back, he sabotages Greve’s campaign for the position. At this point, Greve reacts more forcefully
than Brown anticipates. Mouse, meet cat.
Headhunters is quite a nifty
one-darned-thing-after-another thriller.
Tyldum has a good handle on the material, constantly ratcheting-up the
tension, but periodically using black comedy to release some steam. In his hands, the frequent twists are
entertaining rather than forced or exhausting.
