The most recent film that I watched was Prisoners (Denis Villeneuve, 2013). It is a crime thriller starring Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Paul Dano and Maria Bello.
The plot of the film is simple at face value – an unknown suspect has abducted two young girls – one being the daughter of our main protagonist: Keller Dover, and the other being the daughter of Dover’s friends Franklin and Nancy Birch. The police take a young suspect into custody immediately (Paul Dano) and release him soon after. Keller, adamant that the police have just released the true suspect, then decides to take matters into his own hands.
This simple yet effective mystery is expertly explored throughout the duration of the film. Prisoners gives you so many subtle hints throughout, and keeps you guessing until the very end. The film never feels the need to spoon-feed you crucial information throughout. Instead, the audience is required to put the pieces together in their own minds and the ending is just ambiguous enough to leave you wondering.
The acting performances from everyone throughout the film – especially Jackman and Gyllenhaal – are masterclass. The raw and genuine desperation of Keller Dover is clearly conveyed through Jackman’s performance and Detective Loki’s ruthlessness is portrayed expertly by Gyllenhaal.
The beautiful cinematography of Prisoners was shot by the one and only: Roger Deakins. His many masterful techniques throughout the film include frequent shooting through dirty glass, frames within frames and muted colour palettes (browns, greys, etc.) All of these techniques work in tandem throughout the film to emphasise the hopelessness of Dover’s situation and the reoccurring pathetic fallacy of rain emphasises the desperation of each main character – primarily Loki and Dover.
Otis Morley’s A-Level Film Studies Blog 
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