Hitchcock
loved putting average everymen into breakneck thrillers. To a large extent,
that is what happens to the three protagonists of three standout films for
mystery thriller fans that premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. They
also happen to be stories grounded in reality, but the circumstances of each
are vastly different.
One
of the best films of any genre at this year’s Sundance was Dominic Cooke’s Ironbark, which featured the festival’s most
classically Hitchcockian hero, Greville Wynne, the real-life British
businessman who was recruited to make contact with a highly-placed Soviet mole,
as an amateur spy, completely unaware of the greater stakes involved. Full
review here.
Liz
Garbus’s Lost Girls is also directly
based on a true story, but rather than playing a grand game of espionage, Mari
Gilbert finds herself in a harrowing nightmare when her daughter Shannan disappears,
presumably because she is another victim of the Long Island Serial Killer
(a.k.a. Craig’s List Killer). Based on Robert Kolker’s well-received true crime
account, Lost Girls follows Gilbert’s
campaign to shame the Suffolk County police in to conducting a more thorough
investigation, as well as her own free-lance efforts.
The
problem is the cops on the case are not particularly motivated to investigate
the serial murder of prostitutes like Shannan, nor are they inclined to dig too
deeply in the gated community where she was last seen. The fact that the
victims came from families decidedly on the lower end of the socio-economic and
educational spectrums does not help either. Mari Gilbert is the roughest of family-support
group, but she is also the toughest. Police Commissioner Richard Dormer starts
to grudgingly respect her, so he might even start pushing the investigation a
little.
In
many ways, the Craig’s List killings were similar to Robert Pickton’s
prostitute murders depicted in Rachel Talay’s On the Farm, but at least the Vancouver serial killer was
eventually brought to justice. The Long Island murders remain unsolved, which
necessarily implies an unsatisfying conclusion for Lost Girls. Yet, Amy Ryan’s withering intensity as Gilbert and the
world-weary sadness Gabriel Byrne brings to Dormer still make Lost Girls deeply compelling. In fact,
screenwriter Michael Werwie manages to shape the material into a surprisingly
suspenseful narrative, while Garbus nicely balances the socially conscious
anger with gritty procedural elements.
Mr.
Sergio is sort of a spy like Wynne, but he is even more ordinary than Gilbert.
He also happens to be a spry 83-years-old, which makes him the perfect
candidate to go undercover as a nursing home resident in Maite Alberdi’s
Chilean documentary, The Mole Agent.
Ironically,
Sergio’s loving family is very much a part of his life, so they are conflicted
about his upcoming stint in the old folks home. However, he hopes his
assignment will help take his mind off the relatively recent death of his
dearly beloved wife. Romulo, the private detective who hired him, has a client
who suspects the home is abusing and stealing from her mother. It will be
Sergio’s job to keep an eye on her. Yet, the rather grouchy “target” is
probably the only resident who is not immediately charmed by him, at least
among the women (“Mr. Sergio, such a gentleman,” they cluck).
Much
to Romulo’s frustration, Sergio is not nearly as tech-savvy as he let on. The
gentlemanly mole is also far too prone to let himself get distracted by the
home’s social life. Nevertheless, he will stick with his assignment and
eventually sleuth out some answers.
It
should not be too spoilery to suggest there is not a lot of ruthless villainy
going on in the home. From what we can see, they look like they might be somewhat
short staffed, but everyone working at the Catholic facility seems to be caring
professionals (so no diocese scandal here). In terms of intrigue, The Mole Agent is a minor trifle, but
its wistful charm could make a sleeper hit, much in the vein of the surprise
success of the Korean doc, My Love Don’t Cross that River.
In
fact, the sweet old ladies are right: Mr. Sergio is charming. As he takes an
increasingly protective interest in them, the film becomes ever so bittersweet.
Honestly, this could be the most commercial film set in a Chilean nursing home
you’ve ever seen in your life. It is a nice little lark for caper fans, but Ironbark and Lost Girls are gripping films, featuring big-name stars who
disappear into their roles. All three are recommended, following their Sundance
premieres. The Mole Agent next
screens as the closing selection of this year’s New Directors/New Films and Lost Girls opens March 13 at the Quad,
but this year’s Sundance Film Festival was the place to see them first.
