One arrival that is gone underneath the radar thus far among the many new Netflix motion pictures to reach in August 2024 is Borderless Fog, a homicide thriller set in Borneo, throughout the Indonesian and Malaysian border – it does not even have sufficient evaluations to have a Rotten Tomatoes rating but. It follows Inspector Sanja (Putri Marino, who’s nice) as an immediately iconic new detective – unmistakeable along with her close-cropped curly hair and doctor-prescribed pink sun shades – as she investigates an odd decapitated corpse left on the border between the international locations, which does have a head… simply the incorrect head.
What follows is an astoundingly dense and thematically attention-grabbing thriller that has the darkish tones, character motivations and morally unclear vibes of an entire Danish homicide sequence like The Killing or The Bridge, however squeezed into underneath two hours… and but by some means is not inconceivable to comply with. It does not fairly all tie collectively satisfying sufficient to make it into the greatest Netflix motion pictures listing, however as a connoisseur of the mid-tier detective thriller style, I had a good time with it, and I might fairly fortunately watch a yearly Inspector Sanja film the place she appears moodily over stunning and ominous jungle landscapes.
Borderless Fog begins with a pleasant little ‘slice of life in Borneo’ scene, earlier than the corpse begins the thriller with a literal bang (on a tin roof), and falls onto the border between the 2 international locations. The film will get straight into the themes that may underpin the entire story as two police forces argue that the opposite ought to must cope with based mostly on the border placement, with the disagreement not solely reaching the purpose the place they measure its distance from the precise border, however then query the place the border actually is right here in the midst of the forest.
The film’s overarching theme is about issues that sit between two camps, by no means becoming fairly into both. The primary physique is a mismatched head and torso, which lands on the border between two international locations, and will likely be investigated by a misfit metropolis cop struggling to suit into the countryside, partnered somebody who grew up with tribal radicals however turned a cop and is not full accepted by both facet… the film does not need any easy archetypes, which additionally helps to be sure that anybody who appears extra merely good or evil immediately arouses your suspicion, as a result of nothing’s that straightforward right here within the fog, the place cutaway pictures of ominous native timber watch over the forest like veiled gods.
This all additionally leads into simply what a dense sequence of plots are occurring right here. As soon as we have had our introductions to the ideas above, we’ll must cope with against the law sufferer which may be sacrificial false flag homicide, a neighborhood crime boss, a communist hero dwelling in woods who could or will not be folklore, kidnapped youngsters on a survival hike by way of the forest, and Sanja confronting her boss about his seeming corruption or incompetence… and people aren’t spoilers, as a result of all of it occurs inside the first half of the film. Whereas I admit to shedding some threads, the truth that I might comply with the plot alongside when it is thicker than the Borneo jungle’s foliage is a testomony to strong filmmaking.
It is great-looking at occasions too, with a muted palette and theatening panorama pictures once more making it really feel like a Scandinavian crime drama transplanted to south-east Asia, whereas often including some break-out kinetic vitality – one brief sequence of boats feels straight from a Michael Mann film, and I want the film had introduced extra of that model, truly. The director, Edwin, has received awards earlier than, and retains the film participating it doesn’t matter what’s occurring.
As I discussed above, I might name this an on the spot basic. The assorted threads do not tie collectively neatly and totally satisfyingly, although it actually will get dramatic. And greater than that, regardless of there being a ton of labor to match the themes with the characters, it does not actually ship in your funding within the characters who aren’t Sanja – and you are feeling extra for her is closely attributable to Putri Marino being the strongest performer.
However even when it does not dig deep sufficient, it scratches the floor of so many various components that it could actually’t assist however be attention-grabbing on a regular basis, particularly in the way in which it revels among the many complexity of the characters’ relationships with the Dayak tribal folks, with the historical past of communism, and with the connection between Indonesian and Malaysian officers. And like I stated, it by some means does all this in underneath 120 minutes. What is the excuse of all these far more fundamental motion motion pictures that may’t deliver themselves to come back underneath two and half hours?
