DMovies - Your platform for thought-provoking cinema

The Generation of Evil (Piktuju Karta)

Lithuanian thriller about deeply flawed police commissioner is fun, pacy and unexpectedly pleasant to watch - from the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival

Much of Lithuania’s national character and resulting cultural output is defined by their identity as an ex-Iron Curtain country. The results are often dour reflections on this occupation with little to recommend in the way of pure enjoyment (see Sharunas Bartas’s In The Dusk, from last year). This humbling precedent is dutifully acknowledged with an opening pre-credit show-and-tell classroom scene, whereby bored schoolchildren parade their rote family histories of warriors fighting for freedom under those USSR years. The sedate sequence is upturned dramatically as one child pulls a real police-issue pistol, signalling the intent of director Emilis Vėlyvis to pursue a different tone altogether.

The story almost completely rests on the shoulders of the commissioner Gintas (Vytautas Kaniusonis); a deeply corrupt professional and a flawed being, wherein machismo and infidelity war with prideful fatherhood. His obvious love for his son and somewhat plodding determination to see things through are his only redeeming features for much of the film. Whilst the antihero focus is a cinematic mainstay, here it erases some of the very real pains that the women in his life are forced to endure. A particularly triggering scene of violence and abuse, worse than the rest of the comically gruesome crimes on display, is brushed over as almost inconsequential.

The Generation of Evil offers a Finche-esque thriller that could have been pulled direct from the ’90s – with all the pros and cons that entails. A morally grey police commissioner with political pretensions; a menacing, hooded figure released from jail; the inconvenient suicide of a prolific prosecutor; the resurgence of Soviet-era rubles as calling cards and the suggestion that a 30-year-old cold case from the end of the occupation may come back to haunt the present. It’s a heady shopping list of BIG thriller tropes that are competently strung together into a compelling thriller.

The otherwise competently suspenseful, digital score is let down at a key moment by a cornily jubilant fanfare that should have been relegated to the past millennium. However, you can’t deny that the overall package is fun and pacy, despite some niggle. At the opposite end of the reel, the story could do with a little more time to breathe in the opening act, as pivotal characters are barely introduced whilst the film barrels through its sequence of grizzly crimes. Perhaps the story could have been better served as a BBC miniseries. Flashback scenes of a grainy cinematographic texture are a nice way to leaven the grim antics of the modern day but could be fleshed out to a full episode, in order to understand the varied motivations of the principals.

If you can stomach some of the more distressing elements of the plot, The Generation of Evil is an unexpectedly pleasant way to spend an afternoon.

The Generation of Evil premiered at the 25th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival.


By Charles Williams - 31-12-2021

Charles Williams is a researcher in San Sebastián, Spain. Consumption of popular media and food are two major hobbies, leading to review writing as a further pastime. His film tastes are varied, from...

DMovies Poll

Are the Oscars dirty enough for DMovies?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...

Most Read

Forget Friday the 13th, Paranormal Activity and the [Read More...]
Just a few years back, finding a film [Read More...]
A lot of British people would rather forget [Read More...]
Pigs might fly. And so Brexit might happen. [Read More...]
Sexual diversity is at the very heart of [Read More...]
Films quotes are very powerful not just because [Read More...]

Read More

In the Dusk (Sutemose)

Šarūnas Bartas
2020

Charles Williams - 22-09-2020

Deliberate pacing highlights quiet, charged moments of Lithuanian life under the shadow of Soviet years after the sun has set on the front lines of WW2 - Lithuanian drama premieres at San Sebastian [Read More...]

Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus

Neo Sora
2024

John McDonald - 26-03-2024

Ryuichi Sakamoto's final performance is captured by his son Neo Sora, in this heartwarming celebration of a multifaceted artist who influenced many people in the film world - in cinemas on Friday, March 29th [Read More...]

Silver Haze

Sacha Polak
2023

Victor Fraga - 22-03-2024

Loosely based on Vicky Knight's own tragic life, British drama depicts a strong young woman struggling to hold together her highly fractured existence - in cinemas on Friday, March 29th [Read More...]

Facebook Comment

Website Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *