Venice Review: Francesco Carrozzini’s ‘The Hanging Sun’

Anna Smith
·2 min read
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A reformed criminal goes on the run in The Hanging Sun, an adaptation of Jo Nesbo’s novel Midnight Sun. The author also co-writes the screenplay of this fiction feature debut from Francesco Carrozzini, the photographer who helmed the documentary Franca: Chaos and Creation. The closing film of Venice Film Festival, it’s well performed and gripping enough, though geographically confusing.

Filmed in northern Norway, where the novel is set, it stars an international cast, all speaking English with a variety of accents. Given that the conceit of the book revolves around 24-hour daylight at a certain time of year, the location is an honorable gesture, and handsomely filmed. But it’s hard to accept this as Nordic noir given the language and casting.

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Italian actor Alessandro Borghi stars as John, a hitman who was adopted as a child and trained by a ruthless criminal (Peter Mullan, still apparently Scottish), whose biological son (Frederick Schmidt) resents John. Their feud has come to a head now that John is trying to escape a life of crime, so he hides out in a remote religious community and meets Lea (Jessica Brown Findlay), the victim of an abusive husband (Sam Spruell).

With strong, understated performances from Borghi and Findlay, the unspoken attraction between John and Lea helps to keep the attention, as do the dramatic plot points, from suspicious deaths to chase scenes.

There’s also a sweet bond between John and Lea’s son Caleb (Raphael Vicas), who has developed an unusual way of speaking to cover up a stammer.

But the dramas feel familiar, and archetypes such as the abused wife, the trained killer and the fire-and-brimstone priest (Charles Dance) aren’t fleshed out enough to feel fresh. The Hanging Sun is a workable and good-looking thriller, but it stays on the surface rather than staying with you.

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