Retro Film Review: The Cold Light of Day (1996)

Few years ago many critics praised Sean Penn's The Pledge as one of the more original Hollywood films in recent times. The Pledge might seem original compared with the usual batch of Hollywood thrillers, but it actually represents one of many remakes of 1958 West German film Es geschah am hellichten Tag, later adapted into novel by Swiss writer Friedrich Dürrenmatt. One of such remakes remake was made recently in 1996 in Anglo-Dutch co-production and it is known by the title The Cold Light of Day.

The plot takes place in the unnamed East European country immediately after the collapse of Communism. Viktor Marek (played by Richard E. Grant) is a young police detective who is trying to solve particularly nasty case of child murders. Marek's boss Novak (played by James Laurenson) is an old school policeman who believes in simpler methods of detective work - finding convenient suspects and coercing them into confession. When such tactics results in the suicide of a retarded man and the end of investigation, Marek is convinced that they let the real killer slip away. Disgusted, he resigns the police force and decides to catch the killer by himself. During his private investigation Marek meets Milena Tattour (played by Lynsey Baxter), attractive young woman, falls in love in her and slowly begins to use her daughter Anna (played by Perdita Weeks) as the bait for the killer.

With its disturbing subject and many thought-provoking elements in the script, The Cold Light of Day could have been one of the more interesting European thrillers from past decade. The main reason why it didn't happen could be attributed to the decision to set the plot in East Europe. Some insightful observations about realities of post Communist societies (former Communist bosses and thugs becoming respected democratic politicians) are too distracting to the main plot, as well as the references to war that raged on in former Yugoslavia. The acting is, on the other hand, very good. Richard E. Grant, despite some unnecessary over-acting, handles the role of obsessed detective relatively well, and Simon Cadell (best known as the protagonist of popular British sitcom Hi-De-Hi!) is incredibly creepy in the role of maniac. However, the inept direction by Rudolf van den Berg and poor script by Doug Magee make The Cold Light of Day much inferior to Sean Penn's version.

RATING: 4/10 (+)

(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.movies.reviews on March 24th 2003)

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