Craig. Denmark 2008. Directed by Kim Sønderholm

Craig is an unlucky man. His parents died in a fire accident, his sister struggles for her life and there's no luck with the women. At the same, Craig is suspected of setting the fire and murdering his parents. That does not feel so nice, and when even strangers seem to hate him, the weight of the world is suddenly much heavier than it used to be.

Kim Sønderholm directed, wrote and acted the lead role in this low-budget drama/thriller, that is strangely intriguing despite some areas that could have been worked out better. Sønderholm's lead role is full of emotion, and he succeeds - both in direction and acting - to make the viewer uneasy and confused. Craig is sometimes sympathetic character, but there's always a dose of creepyness involved, from the very beginning. I rarely say this, but this time the female nudity seemed gratuitous, in an unpleasant way. In other words, the film would have been more effective without overlong nude scenes.

The camera work does its job, although some minor lighting problems exists. The audio has more problems, particularly when listening with headphones. There are some noise in the background, but most of the dialogue remains clear. Also the use of noise gate bothers during some conversations.

Sønderholm clearly has skills to make a full-length film with low budget (and to use it wisely). The story of Craig is also interesting - mainly because of the character himself, otherwise it features a pretty predictable plot. The biggest areas to pay attention is in the script writing and audio department.

Despite its faults, Craig is still a welcome addition to the world of independent & micro-cinema.