Director: Michael Noer

Starring: Gustav Dyekjær Giese, Oscar Dyekjær Giese, Lene Maria Christensen

Cert 15; 91 mins

There is a weary inevitability to Northwest (Nordvest) as Danish teenager Casper (Gustav Dyekjaer Giese) sinks deeper into a life of crime. This is never a career choice that is going to end well.

Michael Noer’s clinical, unflashy saga is set in a notorious suburb of Copenhagen where only the fittest survive. Casper graduates from small time housebreaking to even more serious offences when he is taken under the wing of crime boss Bjorn (Roland Moeller).

The giddy confidence that comes with money in his pocket and muscle on his side is soon challenged as he becomes the focus of a turf war that spreads to involve his younger brother Andy (Oscar Dyekjaer Giese).

Intense newcomer Gustave Dyekjaer Giese manages to retain our sympathy even as Casper’s story runs along predictable lines in this flinty thriller.