Showing posts with label Denmark. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Denmark. Show all posts

29 April 2015

Dead by Dawn 2015 Review - When Animals Dream(2014)

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Genre:
Drama, Horror
Distributor:
Altitude Film Distribution
Rating:18
DVD Release Date:
1st June 2015 (UK)
Screened:
Dead By Dawn 2015
Director:
Jonas Alexander Arnby
Cast:
Lars Mikkelsen, Sonia Suhl, Sonja Richter

One of the most interesting aspects of being a horror fan is getting to see the continual resurrection of classic monsters. It feels like an offense to call Jonas Alexander Arnby’s When Animals Dream a monster film, but it’s essentially an abstract version of a classic story; fresh and clean, with a great sense of subtle iconography.
Small town ignorance, conservative values, puberty, death, and sins of the mother prove a potent but studied group of interests for the odd stoicism of Arnby’s vision. Sonja Suhl is terrific, channelling the innocence and charm of a beautiful outsider, only to prove she has no qualms getting Carrie-nasty for “quiet girl” vengeance. Importantly, Arnby makes the film more about the promise of violence from the community than the inevitable transformation in Marie. From the start Marie seems to be undergoing some kind of social gauntlet, dealing with the stigma of her mother’s mysterious illness whilst surviving the copious male aggression in her small sea-side town. As with many puberty-related horror films, the dangers of her condition are consistently outmatched and amplified by the world around her. It’s an interesting parallel to Paul Wright’s For Those in Peril, an equally pessimistic film about sea-side communities and destructive superstition.
Visually the film is consistently haunting and serene. The harsh light of day spells danger for Marie and her family, where safety only arrives with total darkness. Fantastic shots of artificial light in the early hours always spell doom for someone, extending Arby’s cynicism towards attempts to control nature.
Though the film often rests on Suhl’s quiet performance, Lars Mikkelsen is an equally huge and important component of the piece, playing a torn and fraught figure locked between the demise of his wife and the slow submission of his daughter to the same terrible curse. Arnby is wise to tell us as little as possible start to finish, letting us enjoy the quiet but charged politics of an introverted community, whilst putting us in the same bamboozled position as Marie.


A slow but mysterious venture: When Animals Dream is a haunted film; tired at the fact it’s still dealing with an aggressive patriarchy but triumphant in its remoulding of genre mythos.

★★★★
Scott Clark


11 July 2014

EIFF 2014 Film Review : Ai Weiwei: The Fake Case (2013)

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Genre:
Documentary
Rating: 15
Running Time:
87 minutes
Screened:
24, 27th June 2014 (EIFF)
Director:
Andreas Johnsen
Cast:
Andreas Johnsen, Ai Weiwei

Last year I was lucky enough to catch the tale-end of a Toronto exhibit of Ai Weiwei’s work. It was the first time I’d laid eyes on the renowned Chinese artist’s stuff but even then you can see the acidic commentary on the Chinese government clean off the bat.  Andreas Johnsen’s insightful documentary proves an educational look at the inspirational man behind the work, but most of all a disturbing glimpse into what fuels his message.

From the beginning of The Fake Case, Weiwei is a picture of composure: dignified, friendly, wise, considerate, a family man. It is unsettling then to learn of his incarceration at the hands of a totalitarian government who kept him isolated for 80 days in a blank room with 3 guards, then released him unceremoniously to continue persecuting him. The intended message is clear: no one fucks with the Chinese government.

Yet, Weiwei does.

Struggling against the titanic force of a 1984 caricature, a party so villainous it’s a real life version of Orwell’s dystopian nightmare, Weiwei remains zen and considerate, even mischievous, finding a few opportunities to stand defiant in front of his persecutors. Johnsen’s camera shows much of the enigmatic artist, his family, his life post-prison, the ominous control the government still exerts on Weiwei and his supporters, but the overwhelming amount of support he garners from the world and his fellow countrymen alike. The sounds of the Hong Kong cityscape play loud and ominous through distressing segments of the film, most notably during a display of Weiwei’s work at the end of the film.

This is a film that has to be seen, not simply as a fantastic account of Weiwei and his methods, but as a frankly terrifying look at the corruption inherent in an empire and the potential turning of a tide against it.

★★★★
Scott Clark


2 September 2013

Love Is All You Need Blu-Ray Review

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Rating:
15
DVD/BD Release Date:
2nd September 2013 (UK)
Director:
Susanne Bier
Cast:
Pierce Brosnan, Trine Dyrholm, Molly Blixt Egelind
Buy Love Is All You Need:
Blu-ray / DVD
Win Love Is All You Need on DVD:
Enter Here (opens link to The People's Movies)

Love is All You Need (originally titled The Bald Hairdresser) is a heart-warming romantic tale by Danish filmmaker Susanne Bier. The excellent Trine Dyrholm plays Ida, a recovering cancer patient, whom arrives home one day to discover her husband in the midst of a sexual encounter with another – much younger – woman. When travelling from Demark to Italy for her daughter Astrid’s wedding alone, Ida finds herself unexpectedly crossing paths with Philip (played by Pierce Brosnan), the father of Astrid’s fiancé. In Italy, both Ida and Philip learn to overcome their problems and are given the chance for a new beginning.

Love is All You Need is a charming film that would win over even the most cynical of viewers. I am hesitant to label it a romantic comedy – the genre the film has generally been regarded as falling into – since it does not contain much humour. However this is no bad thing, as most typical rom-coms tend to try far too hard to win laughs from the audience, and usually fail quite miserably. Instead, Bier’s text engages us with down-to-earth and likeable characters contending with relatable issues in their lives, all which are dealt with in a realistic fashion. While the film does have a fairy-tale like quality to it, containing plenty of picturesque Italian sunrises and orange and lemon groves, enhanced by beautiful cinematography; the grounded narrative lends it a level of authenticity that distinguishes it from most of Hollywood’s current cinematic output.

With well above average performances and a non-stereotypical plot, Love is All You Need is definitely worth a watch.

★★★★

Sophie Stephenson