88 Minutes
Directed by Jon Avnet
- thriller
- mystery
The story
Famed forensic psychiatrist Dr. Jack Gramm enjoys a reputation as one of the most sought-after profilers around. His expert testimony has resulted in the conviction of many criminals, including serial killer Jon Forster. On the eve of Forster's execution, one of Gramm's students is murdered in a vicious copycat crime, and Gramm himself receives an ominous message informing him that he has less than 90 minutes to live.
What it’s like
Cool, desaturated Seattle winter light falls through office blinds and courtroom windows, with a palette of slate blues, wet asphalt greys and sickly fluorescent whites that makes every interior feel institutional and airless. Camera work leans on tight, nervous two-shots and slow push-ins on Al Pacino's face, cut against wide establishing shots of rain-soaked streets, and the score is a low, pulsing synth drone that rises as the clock-driven tension builds. The rhythm is relentless but talky, with long stretches of interrogation and phone calls broken by sudden jolts of violence that land hard and brief. The emotional register is paranoid and grim, following a forensic psychiatrist who must trust no one as he reconsiders his own convictions, and the mood is one of cold dread and mounting suspicion rather than release. Expect murder, including a graphic sexual assault and killing that is shown with real unpleasantness, plus frequent peril and a steady thread of menace; it is not gentle. It suits a late-night watch for viewers who want a tense, dialogue-driven thriller with a ticking-clock structure and a dark, twisty mystery, and who are comfortable with a bleak, unsettling tone.
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