I'll Name the Murderer: A dusty, low-budget curiosity

Is it worth your time?

If you like movies that feel like they were made in a basement by people who really, really love the idea of being noir detectives, you’ll probably have a decent time here. It’s not exactly high art. But if you’re the type of person who gets bored by big-budget studio slop, this has a strange, desperate energy that keeps you watching.

If you need your mysteries to make perfect sense or your lighting to be professional, you’re going to hate every second of this. Go watch Murder with Pictures instead if you want something that actually knows where it’s going.

Notes from the couch

The pacing is… well, let’s call it aggressive. Things happen because the script needs them to, not because anyone actually investigated a clue. There’s a scene about halfway through where our columnist hero just kind of wanders into a room and the murderer is basically waiting there, looking annoyed.

It reminds me a bit of the frantic, messy vibe you get in Detective Lloyd, where everyone is talking way too fast because they’re worried the film roll is about to run out. 🎞️

• The nightclub sets look like they’re held together by sheer willpower and a few rolls of tape.
• The dialogue is so snappy it occasionally loses all meaning.
• I’m pretty sure the same extra walks past the camera in the background at least four different times.

There is a moment where someone gets slapped and the sound effect is delayed by a solid two seconds. It’s bizarre. You can almost see the actors trying not to laugh, or maybe they’re just exhausted. It’s these little, broken details that make the movie feel human, even if it’s not particularly good.

I found myself wondering if they even had a full script on set. Sometimes people just stop talking and stare at each other for a beat too long. It’s not suspenseful, it’s just... quiet. Really quiet.

It’s not a masterpiece. It’s not even a particularly great mystery. But it’s got a weird, dusty charm that’s hard to replicate with modern digital cameras. Sometimes, a movie just needs to exist, and this one clearly felt the same way.