Ep1009: WHAT REMAINS (2024) - Movie Review

Kicking the Seat

What will be left of Ian and David after they review What Remains?

Artist and first-time feature filmmaker Ran Huang's drama about "Sweden's first serial killer" is not at all what it seems--both in terms of the real-life events that inspired it, and the way in which he and co-writer Megan Everett-Skarsgård choose to tell the story.

In the early 90's, a convicted murderer named Mads Lake (Gustaf Skarsgård) confesses to additional crimes on the eve of his release from a mental institution. This alarming revelation begins a years-long search for clues and burial sites, which traps therapist Anna Rudebeck (Andrea Riseborough) and investigator Soren Rank (Stellan Skarsgård) in a tragic codependency with the most unhinged and unreliable of perpetrators.

This spoilerific examination of What Remains finds one critic defending the movie as a fascinating look at broken lives and an even more broken justice system--and another taking issue with its lack of verisimilitude and lack of a need for having been made. In the end, can these friends/colleagues find common ground? And will David ever recommend a movie to Ian that won't cause them to come to virtual blows?

Pop some popcorn and find out!

What Remains is now playing in theaters and is available ON Demand from VMI Worldwide.

Subscribe, like, and comment to the Kicking the Seat YouTube channel, and check out kickseat.com for multiple movie podcasts each week!

Show Links

• Watch the What Remains trailer.

• As mentioned in the show, you can watch a very informative interview with co-writer/director Ran Huang here.

• And learn more about the real-life case that inspired What Remains here.

• Speaking of Chicago institutions, here's your reminder that the 11th Chicago Critics Film Festival has taken over the Music Box Theatre! Get your festival passes and tickets now!

• Plus! Listen to Ian and David's other contentious reviews (mentioned in the show) of:

  • Manchester By the Sea (2016)

  • The Old Oak (2024)

• Follow David Fowlie's film criticism at Keeping It Reel.