During a scene in Pilgrims, Paulius (Giedrius Kiela) gets an offer for a ride from a local. That local, living in a smaller Lithuanian city, isn’t offering him a ride to be hospitable. He’s doing it to point at how conspicuous Paulius is, lurking in the dark late that night. In fairness to Paulius, he’s not your garden variety creep – he’s reenacting a violent crime. Four years prior, he lost his brother to what may be a hate crime against his brother. He relives that crime and does his own investigation and ropes in an estranged friend, Indre (Gabija Bargailaitė).

I’ll make the educated guess that half of the crime films out there are about fact and the other half aren’t. This film explores that meta, Rashomon-ish idea as it introduces a local, Martynas (Paulius Markevicius). Martynas sells Paulius and Indre a car that the latter two use for reasons outside of driving it around the smaller city. The first thing Paulus does with the car is ask Indre and martynas to temporarily lock him in the trunk, just like his brother. This behaviour escalates to him harassing locals who were witnesses to the crime and did nothing to stop it. 

There are a few things, despite its flaws, that make Pilgrims stand out from other films. For one, this is one of the few crime films exploring the idea of the palimpsest of places. Viewers can see this effect as Paulius and Indre revisit the several places where the crime takes place. These few key ideas pop up even in this film that has a low key approach. The pacing here isn’t for everyone either, an aspect here noticeable enough even for someone like me. Tensions bubble up from the surface even in scenes when both Paulius and Indre ‘mind their business’.

Pilgrims has its share of downtime, especially scenes where all people do is drive each other. It’s not for everyone, but there may be something rewarding when some people get this film’s vibe. There’s also something about films that call out amorality that exists within and outside its little universe. There’s a scene when Marynas drives Indre to a dark road where another grisly crime takes place. Martynas’ seriousness makes Indre laugh, the latter’s reaction surprising from someone hanging around with someone ‘moral’. Human indifference to others’ plight may not be deep but that doesn’t mean that that’s not true.

Pilgrims comes soon to OVID.