Review: The first piece of a Danish cold case trilogy, ‘The Keeper of Lost Causes’ is a well-made thriller

The first in a trio of Scandinavian crime films based on a series of novels by bestselling author Jussi Adler-Olsen that are making their U.S. debut this month, “Department Q: The Keeper of Lost Causes” is a darkly compelling, skillfully crafted cold case thriller.

Originally released overseas in 2013, breaking Danish box office records, the moody film noir introduces Carl Morck (Nikolaj Lie Kaas), a dour, headstrong homicide detective who’s been reassigned to the newly formed Department Q, where he’s expected to catalogue 20 years’ worth of cold cases.

Carl, while not thrilled about being stuck in a basement desk job along with his upbeat Muslim assistant, Assad (an engaging Fares Fares), finds himself drawn to a file concerning Merete Lynggaard (Sonja Richter), a politician whose disappearance aboard a passenger ferry five years earlier was a presumed suicide.

Suspecting foul play and never one to quite follow instructions, Carl opts to reopen the case, uncovering some serious unpleasantness during the course of his unsanctioned investigation.

While comparisons between the Adler-Olsen books and those of Millennium trilogy author Stieg Larsson are valid, James Patterson’s Alex Cross crime novel series also comes to mind here.

But in the hands of director Mikkel Nørgaard, the screen adaptation is noticeably more accomplished than the 1997 Hollywood take on Patterson’s “Kiss the Girls.”

Maintaining a tight grip on the film’s gritty, mournful tone and tense, intersecting flashbacks, Nørgaard also does well by the Kaas and Fares characters, whose yin-yang creates a terrific dynamic.

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‘Department Q: The Keeper of Lost Causes’

In Danish with English subtitles

Not rated

Running time: 1 hour, 37 minutes

Playing: Arena Cinema, Hollywood