Intrigo: Dear Agnes

The second in a trilogy of murder mysteries based on novels by Swedish author Hakan Nesser, this one, like the others, suffers from chilliness of character and pacing; it never quite clicks. Like the first entry, Intrigo: Death of an Author, Intrigo: Dear Agnes lets its seams show. It appears to have been constructed backward from the conclusion. As a result, quite a few of the events of the first half make very little sense. The intended surprises result in a "what?" rather than a "wow!" Moreover, the male characters -- both Peter and Agnes' husband's son -- are specifically designed to be so hateful that they barely seem real.

The women fare better. Both Chan and Juri give believable performances, especially in the way that they allow their characters to age and mature from the flashbacks to the present. They go from giggly and carefree to burdened by the weight of the world. Yet Intrigo: Dear Agnes needed more than just these two interesting characters to work. Strangers on a Train lingers over everything, and the comparison between Hitchcock's nimble, crackling thriller and this leaden one is all too evident. Even Danny DeVito's comedy version of the same story, Throw Momma from the Train, has more life in it than this film does.