The killer is not on screen for long. When he is, he is terrifyingly ordinary. He lives in a nondescript apartment. He eats microwave dinners. He writes a 147-page manifesto that Lammark summarises as “the same four grievances, repeated for a century.” By refusing to make Richard charismatic, director Szifron commits the film’s bravest act: he denies the audience the catharsis of a “cool” villain.
For film historians, the double-year designation is rare. It implies a film that was conceived, released, and culturally concluded within a single calendar year. To Catch a Killer did not have a festival run in 2022 (it skipped TIFF and Cannes). It did not receive awards re-releases in 2024. It belongs entirely to the spring and summer of 2023—a moment when America was asking itself hard questions about violence, and the film industry answered with a shrug.
Lammark recruits Eleanor as a liaison, believing her own "tortured psyche" allows her to understand the mind of a killer who leaves no clear pattern. As the investigation unfolds, they face internal politics, media interference, and bureaucratic hurdles while chasing a suspect who is eventually revealed to be a misanthropic vegan named Dean (Ralph Ineson). Ashley Hajimirsadeghihttps://www.ashleyhajimirsadeghi.com Review and Summary: To Catch a Killer (2023)
The manhunt itself is shot like a documentary. The camera shakes only when the characters run. The forensic sequences are slow, almost boring, because real investigations are boring. The film’s climax—a surveillance stakeout in a suburban strip mall—lasts 15 minutes without a single gunshot. Instead, the tension comes from watching Eleanor watch a motel door, waiting for a man who might never emerge.
