In a gripping cold open, a failed heist results in the death of two security professionals by a group of well-prepared criminals. Years later, they prepare for their next operation: the greatest heist in Danish history. With this premise, Frederik Louis Hviid makes his solo feature debut after his first film, Shorta [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Anders Ølholm e Frederik L…
scheda film] (Venice International Film Critics' Week 2020), co-directed with Anders Ølholm. Hviid stays in-genre with his newest film, The Quiet Ones [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], a crime-drama-slash-thriller inspired by the true story of the biggest robbery on Danish soil, penned by Anders Frithiof August. It had its premiere in the Discovery strand of the Toronto International Film Festival.

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Set in the depths of the international financial crisis of the late aughts, The Quiet Ones follows a group of men who undertake a heist on a Danish cash-handling firm. Central to this is the tense working relationship between boxer wannabe Kasper (Gustav Giese) — with deep, identifiable scars strewn haphazardly across his face — who is recruited by shady Moroccan criminal mastermind Slimani (an electrifying but quietly terrifying Reda Kateb) for his newest scheme. On the other side of the law is sharp and headstrong security guard Maria (Amanda Collin), who in some ways is made out to be Denmark's last effective line of defence against a large-scale heist. Regretfully, little time is given to Maria - or any woman in the film, for that matter. Her story could effectively be removed, and the film would remain the same.

"We're gonna get caught," says Kasper grimly to Slimani, after an apparently successful attempt. Slimani replies with a blunt response that betrays the deep inevitability of it all: “Yeah. Sure. I know that.” The definition of success for each man remains different. After failing to make his mark in the boxing ring, Kasper fixates on being a winner in other ways: namely, making this Denmark’s largest heist. His other motivation is attempting to impress his young daughter, but we get few other reasons to root for him — our hero’s greatest emotional outlet seems to come in the form of needing to yell and groan, a release of machismo proportions. Meanwhile, Slimani is fixated on an overall financial victory. However, it becomes hard to sympathise with either lead, especially after Slimani physically abuses his romantic partner for looking around his belongings.

Set off by a synth-heavy score by Martin Dirkov, cinematographer Adam Wallensten’s camera grows erratic and drastically more handheld, leading to the third act's substantive and lengthy showdown that mentally puts the viewer in the shoes of the criminals-cum-heroes. Cast in cold blues and greys, The Quiet Ones takes more conventionally after other films in the genre, respectable in its late-runtime car-chase action. The lack of compelling character arcs stands as the greatest weakness in an otherwise thrilling movie reminiscent of Ariel Winograd’s The Heist of the Century (2020, Argentina), also depicting an infamous robbery.

The Quiet Ones is a Danish-Swedish-French production staged by Zentropa, Zentropa Sweden, Kazak and Zentropa France, with TrustNordisk managing international sales.