Review of Journal 64

"Journal 64" or "The Purity of Vengeance" is a Danish/German co-production from 2018 that is mostly in the Danish language and maybe you guessed it correctly from the photo already that here we have another film based on the books by Jussi Adler-Olsen, so this is a novel adaptation. Director of these almost two hours is the pretty experienced Danish filmmaker Christoffer Boe and no less than three writers adapted the book. I am a bit surprised that neither Boe nor two of the writers seem to have worked on the previous film(s) by JAO, even if one of them is a BAFTA nominee. Anyway, the main focus here is on Mørck of course as usual with his colleague Assad also getting some screen time as always, even if he is about to make a step up on the career ladder and being send to another department. And then there is the case. This time it basically plays during different times and there are over 40 years between them. One is about a teenage girl who gets sent to a correction facility for females that are somewhat extraordinary in a negative sense. She has/had a romantic relationship with her cousin and plans to marry him, have children as well and so on. Obviously with how things were in the 60s, this was not accepted by any means. Many people will probably still object today. And there is major focus on the head of the institute, another young woman who is an inmate there and also about a nurse. Well and this whole situation results in the brutal murder of three people that show up in a mummified state behind a wall in the now when our pretty special detective investigates. He is really rugue really badass etc. but it is still working and never seems gimmicky or a caricature which is a nice achievement I guess as we keep watching how the story unfolds and what really happened back then. It is a film about revenge as much as it is about forgiveness too. I must say as we find out who eventually is the one that did it and why, I am still a bit shocked I mean with how young she was then and also the exact method of the crime. Okay, lets not go into detail any further there let me just say there are a few moment when it is a pretty cruel and also graphic movie overall. I enjoyed it though. It definitely is not my favorite from the series, but this is not because this one here is weak or anything (it certainly isn't), but because at least one other was more interesting and tense story-wise. These JAO films are certainly a bit on the dark side in terms of the plot but also because of the comedy that is there the way you find it frequently in Scandinavian films. More on the sobering side and sarcastic than really delightful. But the latter would not have fit with the subject anyway. What else can I say. I must say the story of Assad here was disappointing he was just filler material and means to the story, but there was little about him realistic sadly. I am talking about the girl he knows who had contact with the gruesome doctor mostly, which was a bit too much of a coincidence and his job story that of course he stays in the and decides barely being out of the coma to do so was also a bit too much on the predictable and forced happy ending side. This sadly also took away from the emotional moment when his colleague tells him at the end that he needs him too. So yeah I hope with the next one that with Assad fully back in the team they hand him better material again, the character is just too big for what they did with him this time. Also towards the end he is basically just the helpless victim there to propel Mørck's story line. Come on guys that's not the way to go. I have not read the novel, so not sure if the problem lies there or in the adaptation, but I have a feeling it is the former. Two other things I did not like is that there is really a big circle of people surrounding the modern monster doctor and that the police officer date was among them too. It felt equally predictable at least towards the end when Assad tells him to make a call for colleagues. Overall, it is a pretty interesting film that elaborates on a dark time in Scandinavian medical history and it is good it was made also with the addition before the closing credits roll in, the words on the screen. There is noce attention to detail, especially the comedy works very well (even if that is subjective), for me it did at least and moments like how the doctor cannot really be criticized for what he did back then and also the chubby police inspector who sees through it and pays with his life were good addition. I probably won't have to give a recommendation here because honestly chances are tiny you consider watching this one without having seen anything from earlier. I mean you could do it you don#t really need previous knowledge to enjoy it, but I still think taking the chronological path is the better choice. I do certainly give it a thumbs-up though. Go for it! Some pretty interesting characters and story in here despite the flaws that sometimes cannot be overlooked. Oh yeah the girls are pretty cute too.