Jagten 2012

Stephen Holden, New York Times: "The Hunt" is a merciless examination of the fear and savagery roiling just below the surface of bourgeois life. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: For his deeply affecting role that haunts the viewer long after the film ends, Mr. Mikkelsen won the Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: This is filmmaking of a high order, even though the production's scale is modest and the climax is not without its facile contrivances. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Unsettling, forthright and thought-provoking, The Hunt is also brilliantly titled. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Through it all, we see an idyllic-looking community, where glorious fall colors fade into twinkling December snow - a pretty frame for a terrifying story of a modern-day witch hunt. Read more

Mike D'Angelo, AV Club: The Hunt is a "problem picture" in which the problem feels neither urgent nor especially new. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: Mikkelsen's performance is what makes a good movie even better. Read more

Peter Keough, Boston Globe: [A] harrowing but flawed study of an innocent man accused of pedophilia. Read more

Ben Sachs, Chicago Reader: Vinterberg orchestrates the material impressively, increasing tension little by little until it becomes overwhelming. Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: Thomas Vinterberg's The Hunt conveys the sinister swirl of persecution more vividly than any film I can remember. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: It's hard to watch. It should be seen. Read more

David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter: Thomas Vinterberg's best film since "Festen" is an unsettling psychological drama built around a harrowing performance from Mads Mikkelsen. Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: It is a devastating film to watch, a heedful one, and a tragic reminder that no matter how well a life has been conducted, the mere whiff of such scandalous behavior is condemnation enough. Read more

Bob Mondello, NPR: This story is about a witch hunt, an accusation of impropriety that takes on a life of its own, shattering bonds of trust in a close-knit community. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: Though a few scenes feel contrived, Vinterberg gets right to the dark heart of human nature. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: [A] quietly devastating drama about a soft-spoken, bespectacled and devoted kindergarten teacher whose life is upended by a false accusation from one of his students. Read more

Michael Sragow, Orange County Register: Mads Mikkelsen displays remarkable range as a subdued kindergarten teacher confronting sex-abuse charges in a small Danish town. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: The Hunt offers a powerful, provocative study of mob mentality and the fabric of trust. Read more

Walter V. Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle: An intense, hard to watch drama, of a man's life torn apart by his fellow citizens. The performance is skilled enough that it won the top acting award at last year's Cannesfestival. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: You leave The Hunt unsettled in the best sense. Its images and implications are likely to stay in your head a long time. Read more

James Adams, Globe and Mail: The Hunt's inexorability feels derived more from thematic or ideological concerns than any organic necessity. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: It leaves us not only with an unforgettable final image, but also the troubling thought that witch hunts, like war, will always be with us - all the more so in the modern era of instant communication. Read more

Cath Clarke, Time Out: What a knotty, frighteningly real drama 'The Hunt' is. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: Stories of whispered ruination are especially apt in today's virtual playground; The Hunt reminds us that even an innocent face can undo a life. Read more

Boyd van Hoeij, Variety: Known for his often icy and violent characters, Mikkelsen impresses here as a warm-hearted man who finds himself caught up in a situation way beyond his control. Read more

Jon Frosch, Village Voice: There's nothing worthy of love or hate in this capably made but underwhelming movie. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen delivers an astonishingly restrained and expressive central performance in The Hunt, an engrossing psycho-social drama by Thomas Vinterberg. Read more