Last year, Ethan Hawke gave one of the best performances of his career in Paul Schraeder's bleak drama First Reformed, and it looks like 2019 is off to a strong start for the actor with another unexpected turn in the new comedy thriller Stockholm. Inspired by the stranger-than-fiction true story of the 1973 bank heist that gave us the term "Stockholm Syndrome", the film stars Hawke as Lars Nystrom, a Bob Dylan devotee and bank robber, who slaps on a cowboy disguise and takes over a Stockholm bank, guns blazing. Among the hostages is Bianca (Noomi Rapace), who develops an unusual bond with her mercurial captor as the hours turn into days.

Stockholm debuted at Tribeca Film Festival last year to a round of positive reviews that pointed to a surprisingly funny dark comedy and yet another outstanding performance from Hawke and the trailer definitely has charm to spare. If the film delivers, I could easily see it becoming one of the lowkey favs of the year. Directed by Robert BudreauStockholm also stars Mark Strong and arrives in theaters on April 12, 2019. Watch the trailer below.

Here's the official synopsis for Stockholm:

STOCKHOLM is based on the absurd but true story of a 1973 bank heist and hostage crisis documented in the 1974 New Yorker article “The Bank Drama” by Daniel Lang. The film follows Lars Nystrom, (Ethan Hawke) who dons a disguise to raid a central Stockholm bank. He then takes hostages in order to spring his pal Gunnar (Mark Strong) from prison. One of the hostages includes Bianca (Noomi Rapace), a wife and mother of two. Negotiations with detectives hits a wall when (at the request of the Prime Minister) the police refuse to let Lars leave in a getaway car with the hostages. As hours turn into days, Lars alternates between threatening the hostages and making them feel comfortable and secure. The hostages develop an uneasy relationship with their captor, which is particularly complex for Bianca, who develops a strong bond with Lars as she witnesses his caring nature. This connection gave rise to the psychological phenomenon known as “Stockholm syndrome”.

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Image via Dark Star Pictures and Smith Global Media
stockholm
Image via Dark Star Pictures and Smith Global Media
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Image via Dark Star Pictures and Smith Global Media