If the word ‘thriller’ conjures up thoughts of car chases, shootouts, martial arts contests and desperate last minute escapes, you might not want to bother with Sleeping Dogs. The most thrilling moments in this film are when a tiny snippet of recovered memory comes flashing through the lead character’s mind. It might not sound especially exciting, but when you’re suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, like retired detective, Roy Freeman, any glimpse of the past feels electrifying.
For Russell Crowe this is a role that will help him overcome a few macho stereotypes, but perhaps set up a new one as an ‘old guy’. We’re used to seeing Rusty as a gruff he-man, although he’s recently featured in two movies about demonic possession, appeared as Zeus and a mad scientist. It’s clear it was time for a change, and Roy Freeman is it – a tubby, grey-bearded invalid with a closet full of skeletons and a mind decaying so fast his walls are plastered with little notes that help him remember people’s names, or how to use the microwave, or find the bathroom.
We’re supposed to be somewhere in the USA, although the film was shot in Melbourne, with a largely Australian cast. Roy lives alone in a shabby, gloomy house, subsisting on frozen meals and prescription drugs. His shaven head has two large scars where electrodes have been implanted, in an attempt to stimulate his neural pathways. This explains his predilection for dark beanies. The doctor’s instructions are that he must not drink, and try constantly to find ways of engaging his mind, whether it be through reading, crosswords or jigsaw puzzles. He’s chosen the latter route, and is busy assembling a picture of a happy looking dog when the phone rings. It’s a social justice worker (Kelly Greyson) who wants him to speak with a man on death row who swears he didn’t do it.
It’s one of Roy’s old cases, but he doesn’t remember a thing. Yet after talking with the prisoner, Isaac Samuel (Pacharo Mzembe), he suddenly becomes motivated to re-open his old murder files, which he has apparently been allowed to take home with him. It’s not everyone who gets such privileges after they’ve been dismissed from the police force for drunk driving occasioning a fatal accident. Anyway, it’s more mentally stimulating than the jigsaw puzzles.
The case concerns the murder of a charismatic professor, Dr. Joseph Wieder (Márton Csókás), who was clubbed to death in his own lounge room ten years ago. Amid numerous flashbacks to Wieder’s blood-spattered corpse, Roy follows up a lead from the prisoner, who tells him about a man named Richard Finn (Harry Greenwood) who is writing a book about the crime. But before Roy can speak with him, Finn turns up on a slab, dead of a suspected drug overdose.
At Finn’s funeral, Roy meets the deceased’s brother, who hands him an unfinished manuscript. It tells the story of Finn’s relationship with a brilliant student, Laura Baines (Karen Gillan), a protégé of Wieder. It’s clear that Laura will play a large role in this mystery, but the details are slow to emerge. The other character who features strongly is Roy’s old partner in the force, Jimmy Remis (Tommy Flanagan), who has also retired, lost his wife, and taken to the bottle. There’s also the slightly sinister presence of Wieder’s caretaker, bearded Iraq veteran, Wayne Devereaux (Thomas M. Wright).
These are the pieces Roy needs to solve the puzzle, but his condition adds a high degree of difficulty, as he barely recalls his past meetings with the suspects. I won’t reveal any more of the plot, which has plenty of twists, although the final revelation is completely predictable.
The film is a slow-burner that occasionally erupts into violent action. For first-time director, Adam Cooper, the challenge was to match the unfolding events with Roy’s fuzzy, uncertain state of mind. Every discovery begins in confusion that is slowly dissipated, as he starts to see the connections. It seems the surgery and drugs are working, and Roy’s memory is gradually returning. I’m in no position to say whether this is medically possible, but the improvements are subtle enough not to strain credibility.
The success of this film hangs almost entirely on Crowe’s performance in the lead role, and he is in top form, reminding us what a fine actor he is when he gets away from the trashy caricatures. He conveys Roy’s confusion and sadness in the most credible manner, never over-acting or striking angst-ridden attitudes. There is a mystery to be solved, and a parallel mystery in Roy’s mind as to how much of the murder he remembers. Little by little, the two strands converge, not without further mayhem. By the most pragmatic assessment much of this is unnecessary, but as we know from Alfred Hitchcock, crime movies have their own logic.
While we watch Roy stumbling towards the finish line it’s possible to imagine his blank memory has actually helped him work out what happened. Because he hardly remembers anybody, including himself (at one point he asks Jimmy: “Was I a good cop or a bad cop?”) he can look at the evidence with a unique objectivity. He’s certainly a good thing for this movie. If it weren’t for Roy, all the characters might seem a bit too stagey or clichéd. Karen Gillan’s Laura is beautiful, talented, and ruthless in her ambition; Greenwood’s Finn is a cranky misanthrope; Csókás’s Wieder is too smarmy by half; Flanagan’s Jimmy is a man with a secret.
A slightly patchy score by David Hirschfelder adds to the feeling of unease. At times the music becomes obtrusive, but mostly it burbles away in the background, echoing Roy’s fractured thoughts.
Go into this film with no great expectations, and you’ll find a highly watchable mystery that will hold your attention to the end. It’s not the most compelling piece of neo-noir ever made, but it’s a big advance on those mindless action films that fall off the Hollywood assembly line at such regular intervals. In this story, we’re aware that the truth is always already present in the detective’s mind, but lost in the fog of his thoughts. The abiding question is whether some things are best left unremembered.
Sleeping Dogs
Directed by Adam Cooper
Written by Adam Cooper & Bill Collage, after the novel, ‘The Book of Mirrors’ by E.O. Chirovici
Starring: Russell Crowe, Karen Gillan, Marton Csokas, Tommy Flanagan, Thomas M. Wright, Harry Greenwood, Elizabeth Blackmore, Pacharo Mzembe, Simon Maiden, Lynn Gilmartin, Kelly Greyson, Paula Arundel
Australia/USA, MA 15+, 111 mins
Published in the Australian Financial Review, 1o August, 2024