THE Dormant blood clots often looks like an amateur, direct-to-video style the detective novel by EO Chirovici. Although the story tries to evoke the themes of the twisted mind game films of the turn of the millennium, the Alzheimer’s detective protagonist is always a few steps behind the viewers during the investigation of the case.
Former policeman Roy Freeman (Russell Crowe) struggles mostly with his illness and his fading memory during his retirement years, when his past catches up with him in the form of a murder case he thought had already been solved. The young black boy who was convicted and sent to death row for the murder of the well-known psychology professor Dr. Joseph Wieder (Márton Csókás) now claims, contrary to his previous testimony, that he is not the culprit as the execution date approaches. Although Freeman, who was called to help, does not remember anything from the incident, as his doctor recommended that he should stimulate his brain anyway, he replaces the adventure that fills his everyday life with an investigation. As a result of this (and an experimental treatment), over time long-buried secrets resurface, which it would have been better to forget forever.
The filmmakers constantly reflect on puzzle films that employ subversive narrative techniques and work with complex narrative patterns, such as The Gamethe Mulholland Drive – The Road of Darknessthat is Old boy or the Reminderthe Dormant blood clots however, its nonlinear plot construction feels undeveloped rather than complex. The multiple-point-of-view storytelling adapted from the novel is limited to only one film-within-a-film longer episode, as well as a few flashback scenes, which clarify the details of the case with the help of the detective’s slowly returning memory. Therefore, the most important solutions are mostly not the results of active detective work, the necessary information simply occurs to the protagonist instead of logical conclusions, if the plot requires it.
The subplots that try to unsettle the audience therefore complicate the events mostly due to their annoying contradictions and vague explanations instead of outlining different possible alternatives for the interpretation of what happened, as seen in similar films. Only a realistic but half-finished manuscript offers a new perspective, which makes the murdered professor’s assistant (Karen Gillan) suspect. At the same time, the author of the text, who died in the meantime under dubious circumstances, apparently came up with his fictional accusations out of jealousy, so the woman presented as the woman of doom can easily clear herself up. Such series of events leading nowhere and misleading theories make up the majority of Freeman’s investigation.
The director of the first film, Adam Cooper, as a screenwriter, notes, among other things, productions that put previous trash films to shame, such as The Transporter: Heritage (The Transporter Refueled), Allegiant or that Assassin’s Creed – originality, the complete lack of tension, and the overcomplicated story management mixed with self-contradictions are recurring trademarks this time as well. The amnesiac detective fills his environment with necessary notes in vain Reminder modeled after its protagonist and mixed with the You play/today into a situation similar to his world based on deception, if his problems resolve themselves at the right moment. Yet seemingly every event has a meaning and is connected to the other as a small piece of a complicated puzzle. The film emphasizes this disintegrated state characteristic of the protagonist through a regularly recurring visual metaphor: the detective arranges the pieces of an actual puzzle while trying to reconstruct a case that also reveals his own past. Apart from that, however, the makers have few formal games in store. THE Dormant blood clots his visual world mostly aims to create a noir atmosphere with dim lights and faded colors, but the ominous atmosphere can only be seen at times in the blurred shadows. The focus on dialogue and the frequent close-up shots with shallow depth of field place the emphasis on the actors instead of the environment, but the actors who give artificial performances do not appreciate the high degree of attention they receive.
Moreover, the characters mostly represent detective movie stereotypes that are hard to take seriously, which their clichéd motivations are not able to shade further. The skirt-hunting professor who takes advantage of his position, the exploited, vengeful student and the offended writer, after whom the woman drools only in his work, as well as the former police officer who knows more than he lets on – they are obviously guilty from the very beginning. Even the boy about to be executed is not innocent, and his arrogance and unfamiliarity make it especially difficult to get excited about the success of the investigation to save his life. Freeman’s noir hero is also primarily motivated by the desire to break away from boring everyday life and to divert his attention from his alcoholism.
What makes the mysteries of puzzle films special is that the viewers can shed light on cases with twisty solutions together with the main character, Dormant blood clots on the other hand, with its predictable – and parentheses of previous events – compared to the developed concepts of the evoked cult films, it revives the shocking (intended) twists and TV-movie effect of productions based on a single idea, much more than the TV movie that elaborates on similar themes Murderous Memory (Memory), or that Remember! (Remember).
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