There are clear shades here of ‘Dog Day Afternoon’, even down to the presence of Al Pacino, admittedly playing a character diametrically opposite to the flawed bank robber in Sidney Lumet’s classic hostage drama. Here, Pacino’s character is a real estate owner living on what seems to be a permanent holiday, geographically separated from the movie’s main events set in 1970s Indianapolis. ‘Dead Man’s Wire’ centres on a disgruntled man whose real estate deal has fallen apart. He isn’t seeking money so much as an apology – an admission of wrongdoing – though, inevitably, the machinery of rapacious capitalism proves far less accommodating.

Set in 1977 and based on true events, the film also recalls ‘Network’, with that same ‘I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore’ energy. Bill Skarsgård’s Tony Kiritsis is no criminal mastermind. He hasn’t planned this with any great precision; rather, he comes across as an awkward, volatile outsider pushed to the edge – which makes the situation all the more unsettling.

What stands out most is the film’s fascination with the media circus that surrounds the hostage situation. Television crews and radio coverage quickly turn it into a spectacle, with a local radio DJ becoming the one person Kiritsis trusts, forming an uneasy bond through on-air exchanges. Yet the film seems far more interested in this public theatre than in the mental health implications of what’s unfolding – not just for Kiritsis himself, but for the mortgage broker Richard Hall, whose ordeal is largely sidelined.

That question of sanity lingers throughout: is Kiritsis calculating, or is he genuinely unwell? The film never fully resolves this, and its ending only adds to the ambiguity. We are led to believe he is released, even seeing him casually encounter Hall outside a coffee bar, yet we are also told that he served time in a psychiatric institution. The implication is that this meeting takes place years later, but the film presents it in such a way that it feels oddly confusing rather than illuminating.