In “Intrigo: Samaria,” a short-haired brunette teams up with an older man to revisit an unsolved murder from years ago. That may sound like the premise of “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” and, coincidentally, this film shares a director with the second and third installments of the original Swedish trilogy. Perhaps that’s why Daniel Alfredson’s filmmaking feels most confident in this, the final entry of his thematically connected “Intrigo” series (now available on digital and on demand). The films take place in the fictional European town of Maardam, but the setting feels most fully realized here, with cameras panning the seemingly idyllic pastoral scenery of Samaria, the farm where the movie’s mystery is centered.
The brunette would be Paula (Phoebe Fox), a documentarian making a film about the case of her former classmate Vera, who was presumed dead. The man is Henry (Andrew Buchan), once her teacher, whose help she enlists after a chance encounter. By the time Henry joins her, Paula has already made progress with talking-head footage, including an interview with Vera’s abusive father, in prison for killing her.
Fox is riveting as a stubborn go-getter who often employs morally questionable methods for the sake of truth and art. But her screen presence isn’t enough to fill out this lean thriller, which hits so many cliché beats along the way. “Samaria” is not, however, completely without intrigue, and the ending at least eschews a completely predictable twist.
Intrigo: Samaria
Rated R for language. Running time: 1 hour 44 minutes. Rent or buy on Amazon, iTunes and other streaming platforms and pay TV operators.
Source: Movies - nytimes.com
