Don't Say a Word
Directed by Gary Fleder
- thriller
- mystery
- crime
The story
When the daughter of a psychiatrist is kidnapped, he is horrified to discover that the abductors' demand is that he break through to a young woman, suffering from PTSD, who knows a secret six digit code number.
What it’s like
Cold, dim Manhattan interiors lit by hard fluorescents and the blue glow of monitors, with the city's grey winter light leaking through apartment windows and a clinical white glare in the psychiatric ward. Gary Fleder shoots with restless handheld momentum during the kidnapping and chase sequences, cutting between surveillance-camera grain, tight close-ups of faces in shadow and sweeping night-street wides, while the quieter scenes in the hospital hold on still, awkward two-shots. The score is driven by tense strings and a ticking, pulsing undercurrent that keeps dread simmering even when nothing is happening. Vibe: taut, wintry, paranoid, a little sour. It suits a late-night watch alone when you want to be hooked and kept on edge. The violence is moderate and sudden rather than gory: a few gunshots, a stabbing and a fall, with some peril to a child and sustained threat and emotional cruelty, but no sexual content. For people who like urban crime thrillers with a psychological hook, a controlled slow burn, and a lonely protagonist slowly drawn back into the world.
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