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True Confessions

True Confessions

Crime · Drama · 1981

A cop clashes with his priest brother while investigating the brutal murder of a young prostitute.

Movie details

True Confessions

“Two brothers out to save everyone else. But they couldn't save each other.”

1981 Crime · Drama 1h 48m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.1 / 10

Community rating

A cop clashes with his priest brother while investigating the brutal murder of a young prostitute.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over True Confessions?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

The Onion Field

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Bad Lieutenant

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Gone Baby Gone

Gone Baby Gone

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When 4 year old Amanda McCready disappears from her home and the police make little headway in solving the case, the girl's aunt, Beatrice McCready hires two private detectives, Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro. The detectives freely admit that they have little experience with this type of case, but the family wants them for two reasons—they're not cops and they know the tough neighborhood in which they all live.

The Padre

The Padre

Drama · 2018

American retired Judge Randall Nemes and his hired gun, Gaspar, track down a con man posing as a priest in a small Colombian town only to be thrown off-course by a scrappy 16-year-old girl intent on reuniting with her sister in the United States.

The Client

The Client

Drama · 1994

A street-wise kid, Mark Sway, sees the suicide of Jerome Clifford, a prominent Louisiana lawyer, whose current client is Barry 'The Blade' Muldano, a Mafia hit-man. Before Jerome shoots himself, he tells Mark where the body of a Senator is buried. Clifford shoots himself and Mark is found at the scene, and both the FBI and the Mafia quickly realize that Mark probably knows more than he says.

Cop

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Primal Fear

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Sleepers

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A Walk Among the Tombstones

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Crime · 2014

Private investigator Matthew Scudder is hired by a drug kingpin to find out who kidnapped and murdered his wife.

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Ulu Grosbard

Written by

John Gregory Dunne · Joan Didion

Robert De Niro

Robert De Niro

Father Des Spellacy

Robert Duvall

Robert Duvall

Det. Tom Spellacy

Charles Durning

Charles Durning

Jack Amsterdam

Kenneth McMillan

Kenneth McMillan

Frank Crotty

Ed Flanders

Ed Flanders

Dan T. Campion

Cyril Cusack

Cyril Cusack

Cardinal Danaher

Burgess Meredith

Burgess Meredith

Msgr. Seamus Fargo

Court is in session

Put True Confessions on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Auteur Devotee

“Form is the argument.”

Every composed frame and deliberate cut is evidence that control can be thrilling in its own right.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Technique in search of a pulse.”

Immaculate construction is still construction. The film may be too busy proving its craft to feel alive.