I will give any production with Mark Ryland in it a try, ever since I first noticed him in Wolf Hall. I enjoyed this film, with its taut script, realistic dialogue and several plot twists, which I won’t even mention for fear of giving things away.

This movie manages to be a noir piece, even though it doesn’t venture out into the dark and moody streets of Chicago. I is a set piece, taking place in one man’s tailor shop. I wonder if a theatrical production on Broadway os inevitable?

There are plenty of bad guys to be found here, but with enough shading of humanity as to make us root for a few over the other. But the script doesn’t care who you root for — the plot is the plot and it will runs its headlong course and draw us along with it.

Despite the periodic outbursts of violence, this is more a drama than a thriller. It reminds me of what Hitchcock is supposed to have said. Suspense isn’t a bomb exploding but rather it is wondering if it will go off. Of course, in thrillers, if you have a bomb, it must explode at some point. This movie isn’t that predictable.

This movie isn’t just a drama; it is a character study, and Ryland’s character bears up well under the plot’s scrutiny.