Much of this excellent crime thriller has aerial shots of an upside-down Budapest. On the ground, there is a detective, a woman who, with dread-filled eyes, can spot the clues that other cops miss, and also make the unseen connections between the dots visible. When she enters a crime scene, her feet are down and her head is up. But from the perspective of the upside-down Budapest—her city, and the city of the crimes she investigates—we see that it is the other way around: Her feet are up and her head is down. There is something truly profound about this inversion. The local (the crime scene) is a lower truth, and the general (the whole city) is a much higher truth. We are in fact always upside down. What holds us down to the ground is gravity. X - The eXploited will certainly be remembered long after the festival ends.

X - The eXploited screens tonight and at the 45th Seattle International Film Festival. Further details here. Check out The Stranger's complete SIFF guide here.