Panida hosting 'Department Q' trilogy

Two men won’t stop until they get to the truth … join them on their quest at the Panida for the black noir trilogy series.

The film adaptations of Jussi Adler-Olsen’s Nordic crime novels were a hit in Denmark, and now all three, known as “The Department Q Trilogy,” are being released in the United States. This pitch-black series, with its brooding protagonist, may draw comparisons with “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” but consider this: The stories are even sharper (and without a brutal rape). The films in this expertly plotted Nordic noir trilogy are “The Keeper of Lost Causes,” “The Absent One” and “A Conspiracy of Faith”.

Detective Carl Morck (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) is a bit surly but maybe for just cause. After a stakeout ignited a brutal moment of violence, he’s been busted down to Department Q, a basement office that handles cold cases. There, he meets Assad (Fares Fares), his new partner. The two partners take on their first case: that of Merete (Sonja Richter), a politician who disappeared in a presumed suicide. That presumption unravels as Morck and Assad pull at its threads, and as we see a series of flashbacks that run parallel to the investigation. One of those, in which the main pieces fall into place, is gasp-inducing.

“De- partment Q: The Keeper of Lost Causes” was directed by Mikkel Nørgaard and was first released in Denmark in 2013 but not in the United States. The highly popular books in the series written by Jussi Adler-Olsen arrived here to great reviews. The films often focus on research rather than on gunplay, yet somehow it still feels filled with action. That’s a testament to its lead actors, who radiate tension, and to the script, adapted by Nikolaj Arcel. Yes, there are gripping scenes. But there are moments of dry humor, too.

The second in the series, “The Absent One” broke box office records in Denmark. The decades-old murder of a pair of twins is double the trouble for the detectives of Department Q in this gripping second installment in the blockbuster series. In 1994, a junkie is convicted under suspicious circumstances of a double homicide at an elite boarding school. Twenty years later, the supposedly open-and-shut case doesn’t look quite so pat to cold case crackers Mørck and partner Assad whose investigation pits them against some of the most powerful men in the country who will go to extremes to bury the truth.

Directed by Hans Petter Moland, “A Conspiracy of Faith” delivers another police procedural featuring Department Q, a dead-end division dedicated to long-unsolved cases. The bare-bones team again consists of Mørck and Assad. Other key characters are their loyal assistant, Rose (Johanne Louise Schmidt), and their barely tolerant captain, Jacobsen (Søren Pilmark).

Their latest case begins with the discovery of a literal message in a bottle, written in blood and dated eight years earlier. The detectives determine that it was written by a child and the ensuing investigation involves children in a community whose disappearances have gone strangely unreported. Rich characterizations and tense interactions between the two mismatched lead characters are engrossing and captivating.

An intense drama such as this is not for all Panida patrons but there has been a great deal of interest in the series. Local Realtor and Panida patron, Raphael Barta, has read the books and told me is he very much looking forward to watching the films. We will be drawing for a chance to win the three books.

The “Dept Q” trilogy is at the Panida Theater this week — buy a punch card and pick your times. See all three in the series for $15 and get $3 beers. Tickets are available at the door or online at www.panida.org. The series is unrated but does contain graphic content and adult subject matter.

n Thursday, Aug. 18 — “Department Q: Keeper of Lost Causes”, 3 p.m.

n Thursday, Aug. 18 — “Department Q: The Absent One”, 5:30 p.m.

n Thursday, Aug. 18 — “Department Q: The Absent One”, 8 p.m.

n Friday, Aug. 19 — “Department Q: The Absent One”, 3 p.m.

n Friday, Aug. 19 — “Department Q: Conspiracy of Faith”, 5:30 p.m.

n Friday, Aug. 19 — “Department Q: Conspiracy of Faith”, 8 p.m.

n Saturday, Aug. 20 — “Department Q: Keeper of Lost Causes”, 3:30 p.m.

n Saturday, Aug. 20 — “Department Q: The Absent One”, 6 p.m.

n Saturday, Aug. 20 — “Department Q: Conspiracy of Faith”, 8:30 p.m.

Also coming to the Panida: Retro Reel, “Cinema Paradiso”; Florence Foster Jenkins, Café Society, Gallagher’s Last Smash Tour, and more.

Patricia Walker is the executive director of the Panida Theater. She can be reached at [email protected].