A violent entertainment involving mistaken identities, adultery and Thai gangsters, Just Another Love Story is one of the most imaginative thrillers of recent years. It all begins with a terrible accident involving Jonas, an unfulfilled family man, and Maria, a young woman just returned from a vacation-turned-nightmare in Thailand. Citing the irresistible lure of beautiful women and compelling mysteries in voiceover, Jonas finagles his way into Maria’s hospital room, where she lies comatose, by saying he is her boyfriend Sebastian whom she met overseas. Risking his marriage among other things, Jonas plunges into this new situation with a woman he barely knows, little realizing the dangerous mess he’s getting himself into. Employing flashbacks, flash-forwards and clever camera work to propel the story and portray the shifting viewpoints of a variety of characters, writer/director Bornedal (Nightwatch, The Substitute) milks his over-the-top scenario for all it’s worth. Shocking, complex and brutal, Just Another Love Story offers some wonderfully tense moments, a passel of terrific performances and a resolution that is disturbing yet perfectly fitting for the mind-bending story preceding it.

Written by Ole Bornedal. Photographed by Dan Laustsen. With Anders W. Berthelsen, Rebecka Hemse, Nikolaj Lie Kaas. (100 min, Koch Lorber Films)