Firstborn (2017) poster
2017 · thriller · latvian

Firstborn

Directed by Aik Karapetian1h 33m2017
ElsewhereIMDb5.7178TMDB5.39
  • heavy
  • intense
  • bleak
  • cold
Movie DNA

Heavy, steady, extreme thriller / latvian, inventive in texture. Nihilistic, intimate, cold, hand-scored across twelve axes of taste.

How every film is hand-scored →

A psychological thriller about a middle-aged intellectual who, in an attempt to restore his reputation in his wife’s eyes, accidentally commits a murder. As time passes, he begins to see a link between the deceased, his wife’s pregnancy and the mysterious blackmailer who is forcing him to act against his will.

Our read · Firstborn (2017) reads as a heavy, steady, inventive thriller · latvian entry — extreme in intensity, intimate in scope, cold in temperature, nihilistic in outlook. Hand-scored on twelve axes of taste — mood, pacing, weirdness, hope, stakes, humour, reality, density, warmth, auteur, intensity, and era — with a derived palette drawn from its dominant cinematography.

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What watching it is actually like.

You want a slow-burn Latvian psychological thriller about murder, masculinity and blackmail.

ends unsettlingit leaves you shakena slow buildgrips by minute 22attention 4/5earns its lengthsubtitles: full
Date nightWith friendsSoloWith parentsKids around
Heads-upnudityexplicit sexgraphic violence

Skip it tonightSkip if grim murder, toxic masculinity or subtitles will sour your night.

DNA · twelve axes

The reading.

Each axis is hand-scored — not derived from votes or genre averages. The marker shows where this film sits; the gradient fill uses the film's own cinematography palette.

Mood · HeavyCosy
Pacing · Slow-burnKinetic
Intensity · GentleExtreme
Weirdness · ConventionalSurreal
Hope · NihilisticRedemptive
Stakes · IntimateEpic
Humour · NoneBroad
Reality · GroundedFantastical
Density · SparseTwisty
Warmth · ColdTender
Auteur · TransparentSignature
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