What Remains (2024)
Dir. Ran Huang
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Based on a true story about a Scandinavian man who falsely confessed to heinous crimes in the 1990s, What Remains is the feature film debut from director Ran Huang and is a Chinese-Scandinavian co-production led by incredible performances from father/son duo Stellan and Gustaf Skarsgård, and the iconic Andrea Riseborough.
Mads Lake (Gustaf Skarsgård), formerly known as Sigge Storm, is a troubled man who has spent time in an experimental psychiatric hospital. As he approaches his release, he reveals to his new therapist, Anna Rudbeck (Riseborough), that he may be involved in a long-unsolved murder case amongst other crimes – but something in Anna just doesn’t sit right. She explores whether Mads’ confessions are real along with police officer Soren Rank (Stellan Skarsgård).
This slow-burning crime thriller is a gripping and emotionally driven deep-dive into the human psyche, covering difficult topics such as childhood trauma, which we can all understand at a mortal level. Gustaf’s reserved yet powerful performance as someone battling demons from his past and allowing them to bleed into his future and present a false reality is, we believe, his best acting to date. This narrative subject matters that co-writers Huang and Megan Everett-Skarsgård tackle in What Remains will always present them with a challenge to make Mads a flawed but interesting character for the audience to see the world through. Riseborough and Stellan Skarsgård’s performances round off a captivating trio of lead talent, allowing the story to stay strong until the climax, even when it lags slightly towards the back end of the second act.
Christopher Blauvelt’s stunning cinematography shows us a gorgeous cold vista of ’90s Scandinavia, with frozen landscapes, post-Cold War environments and a simplistic yet masterful execution of making a dialogue-heavy film utterly enthralling.
Although the film falters slightly with its pacing in the latter half, and the ending is slightly rushed, leaving a few unanswered threads, What Remains is still a brilliant debut feature from Huang and gives us Gustaf Skarsgård’s best performance to date. The cinematography is stunning, and the simple accompanying score subtly adds so much overall, making this a worthy watch.
WHAT REMAINS is available to watch exclusively on the ICON FILM CHANNEL
