"Don't go thinking you know the people you work for," says a character late in Daniél Espinosa's brutal, brooding crime drama "Easy Money"; it's a fair warning, as nobody in this film turns out to be quite what they seem. Set in contemporary Stockholm and filmed with a jittery urgency, it follows three men trapped in an underworld of drugs and violence. JW (Joel Kinnaman, of TV's "The Killing") is a student, looking almost brittle in his handsome perfection, who funds his lifestyle through crime. Jorge (Matias Padin Varela), a recent escapee from prison, seeks that proverbial One Last Job so that he can leave the life for good. Mrado (Dragomir Mrsic), a key figure in the Serbian mafia, feels comfortably entrenched — until he finds himself unexpectedly caring for his young, sad-eyed daughter, whose presence seems to remind him of the possibility of a better life. Their stories eventually intertwine, not prettily.

Based on a novel by Jens Lapidus, "Easy Money" (pity the filmmakers couldn't have hung on to its Swedish title, "Snabba Cash") isn't always easy to follow; the rapid-fire parade of beatings, blood, cocaine shipments and threatening-looking men races by like a fugitive fleeing the law. But what's compelling is the sense of gravity that Espinosa brings; the realization (absent from so many crime thrillers) that these actions have meaning and consequence. And it's a pleasure to see Kinnaman, free of his "Killing" scruff and mumble, meticulously crafting a character torn between two lives. JW, whom we see dressing for the day as if he's about to step onto a stage, moves easily in high society, but something's off; he's always curling his lips around his teeth, as if he's hiding something. Later, at a refined meet-the-parents dinner with a lovely heiress (Lisa Henni), he desperately tries to conceal a bloodstain on his impeccable cuff. We're left with the impression that though the mark may eventually be washed away, this man in a mask will never be truly clean.

Moira Macdonald: 206-464-2725 or mmacdonald@seattletimes.com