The Promised Land (2024)

Direction: Nikolaj Arcel
Country: Denmark / Germany / Sweden

Mads Mikkelsen stars in The Promised Land, the best possible send-off for the actor as a low-key but tenacious protagonist. In this historical period drama set in 1755 Denmark, he portrays Captain Ludvig Kahlen, a tenacious former officer seeking permission from the Danish court to establish a colony on Jutland, a barren moorland. However, he faces opposition from the sadistic Fredrik de Schinkel (played by Simon Bennebjerg), who lays claim to the land.

The film, based on 2020 book The Captain and Ann Barbara by Ida Jessen, counts on the strong supporting roles of Amanda Collin as a brave housekeeper and Kahlen’s lover, and Melina Hagberg as an orphan girl traveling with a group of Romani gypsies. What the director Nikolaj Arcel (A Royal Affair, 2012) has in spades is the ability to find lyricism amid squalor. Certainly, the film is grim in many ways, but the true story is made irrefutably cinematic in its lavish, painterly visual detail.

Still, there are self-indulgences and an occasional excess of sentimental expression, especially in its latter third, leading to an awkward ending. The truth is: it didn’t move me in the end, but it’s guaranteed to give you the chills, reminding you of the ruthless deeds of those driven by greed and power. Laced with the emotional heft of the epic classics, the film is sure to satisfy movie-going audiences looking for tension-filled historical dramas.

Speak No Evil (2022)

Direction: Christian Tafdrup
Country: Denmark

Speak No Evil is a well-filmed, highly unsettling Danish thriller whose story exudes gripping familiarity before taking us to harrowing conclusions. Adopting a hyper-realistic style, director Christian Tafdrup (Parents, 2016; A Horrible Woman, 2017) conjures up a mad world of predators and prey with dramatic power and a crescendo of emotions. His art consists in exacerbating borders to better abolish them, in a formally controlled exercise in suspense.

Co-written by Christian and his brother Mads, the story follows a Danish couple - the easygoing Bjorn (Morten Burian) and the astute Louise (Sidsel Siem Koch) - on holidays in Tuscany. There, they meet an opaque Dutch couple - Patrick (Fedja van Huêt ) and Karin (Karina Smulders) - who, months later, invite them to a weekend getaway in their isolated house situated in the Netherlands’ countryside. The circumstances of their staying might have been different, but this family seems to be inevitably drawn into a nightmarish tragedy. 

While the story is pretty strong, there are a couple of scenes that felt a bit awkward, especially those involving Bjorn’s vulnerable moments in the company of Patrick. His weakness and naivety were almost unbearable to me. However, and eschewing any type of stereotype about what pure parental ferocity should be, I got the impression that this couple could have offered more resistance by any possible means. This is a pretty sick game we have here. 

All four adult actors and the two kids do a great job, but a very special mention goes to Ms. Koch, who was fantastic at every single instance, and van Huêt, for his cunning manifestation of cordiality and pugnacity. Disseminating helplessness and dread in the last minutes, at the sound of an ethereal “Requiem” composed by Sune Kolster, this dismal film will teach you to never trust strangers.

Flee (2021)

Direction: Jonas Poher Rasmussen
Country: Denmark

Directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen, Flee embraces a documentary-animation hybridity that strikes with heartfelt intimacy. It tells the haunting true story of Amin Nawabi, a 36-year-old gay Afghan who once established himself in Denmark as an unaccompanied minor. He's about to get married to his long-time boyfriend, Kaspar, but first he needs to go over his distressing past by telling his story.

Like in a therapy session, Amin harks back to his earliest memories of a war-torn Kabul in the mid 1980s. He explains how he and his family were forced to flee to Moscow, then put in an abandoned building with inhumane conditions in Estonia after a traumatic attempt to reach Sweden by boat, and then sent back to Russia again, where they stayed illegally after paying the corrupt authorities. Following those tough times, he arrives in Copenhagen with a false passport and is given asylum as a refugee who had lost all his family, a lie he had been keeping for years. He also opens up about his sexual awakening. 

The particular care given to the images is preponderant in this poignant, profound and touching account of a life marked by fear, trauma, loss, bias, a quest for identity, and an urge for integration. It’s hard not to be scared or overwhelmed during the description of these hard-hitting events, but the film seduces by the stylized realism with which it’s presented. The rhythm of the storytelling is stable, increasing our interest in an emotional story that many will relate to.

A Perfectly Normal Family (2021)

Direction: Malou Reymann
Country: Denmark

For her first directorial effort, Malou Reymann, whose film career began at a young age as an actress in Hella Joof’s 2009 drama Hush Little Baby, draws on her own personal story. She lived a completely ‘normal’ family life until the day her mother (Neel Rønholt) dropped a bomb by announcing she and her husband (Mikkel Boe Folsgaard) were divorcing because he had decided to go for gender transitioning and become a woman.

Unlike her older sister (Rigmor Ranthe), the 9-year-old Emma (Kaya Toft Loholt), a soccer girl with the soul of a fighter, faces greater challenges in fully accept this situation. The foursome attend therapy sessions that turn out to be more chaotic than helpful, and the family balance gets inevitably shaken up as flashbacks from happy times intertwine with the complicated new reality. 

A couple of dispensable scenes - especially the musical ones - and some other insisting on lightness when heaviness would be a more appropriate option, don’t obstruct the positive message to be delivered. It’s a tender treatment of a delicate subject that focuses on so many aspects: resolute self-acceptance, volatile adaptation phases, adolescent maturation, social discomfort and unconditional love. The family members take their time to grow, repositioning themselves without losing a bit of affection for one another. There's no histrionics here, just honest feelings and relatable concern.

The casting is decisive when it comes to this particular genre, and both the young lead actress and Folsgaard as the patient and caring Thomas/Agnete (we never catch a glimpse of indecision or regret in his eyes, and he sort of trusts time to heal things up) deliver wonderfully nuanced and totally believable performances.

Wildland (2021)

Direction: Jeanette Nordahl
Country: Denmark

In Jeanette Nordahl’s debut feature Wildland, an introverted 17-year-old is caught in the criminal web weaved by her family. The statement that opens and closes this journey - “for some people, things go wrong before they even begin” - adjusts perfectly since this austere family crime-drama almost feels like a noir coming-of-age film loaded with corrosive toxicity.  

After her mother’s death, Ida (Sandra Guldberg Kampp) becomes an orphan and goes to live with her aunt Bodil (Sidse Babett Knudsen), whom she had never met before. She quickly learns that the domineering matriarch commands a group of robbers that consists of her three sons - the immature Mads (Besir Zeciri), the reserved David (Elliott Crosset Hove) and the authoritarian Jonas (Joachim Fjelstrup). Ida enjoys all the attention she gets from her cousins, but what was fun at first becomes a nightmare when an operation goes wrong and the relationships grow tenser. 

Shot with clarity as it is magnificently photographed by the expert David Gallego (Embrace of the Serpent, 2015; I Am Not a Witch, 2017; Birds of Passage, 2018), Wildland is an unsettling ride that flows at a calculated pacing, encompassing topics such as loyalty to and sacrifice for the family, identity, sense of belonging, and the choice between the good and the bad.

There’s plenty of disturbing aspects in the plot by Ingeborg Topsøe that makes the film compulsively watchable. The performances are strong - not only from Kampp and Knudsen who are at the center, but also from Hove who truly impressed me (it will take me some time to forget the immense emptiness in his look). This uncompromisingly ugly story managed to linger in my mind after its conclusion.

Riders of Justice (2021)

Direction: Anders Thomas Jensen
Country: Denmark

Putting on display a diverse range of lunatic and irate characters, Riders of Justice finds its own patch of madness in a story where the laughs pair up with violence. The film, penned and directed by Anders Thomas Jensen (Flickering Lights, 2000; Adam’s Apples, 2005), follows a tough deployed soldier, Markus (Mads Mikkelsen), who returns home to take care of his teen daughter, Mathilde (Andrea Heick Gadeberg), after the tragic death of his wife. In difficulty to cope with the loss and connect with his estranged daughter, Markus sees his mournful time and anger problems stirred up when he learns from Otto (Nikolaj Lie Kaas), a brainy survivor from the train wreck that killed his wife, that what happened wasn't accidental. Otto’s loony friends, Lennart (Lars Brygmann) and Emmenthaler (Nicolas Bro), join their cause to find the truth and seek revenge.

This comedic crime case, which seems to incorporate elements and characters from the universes of Bong Joon Ho and Terry Gilliam, marks the fifth collaboration between Jensen and his first choice actors, Mikkelsen and Kaas. It’s messy and silly, merciless and compassionate, in a way that, in the same breath, stretches the line of absurdity and entertains moderately.

Far from unconventional, Riders of Justice is definitely a no-game changer but arrives free of all stylistic constraints. In addition to the message that everyone needs help, its most relevant aspect is perhaps the space given to each character to show their own self under certain circumstances. It was a frothy cinematic experience for me.

Enforcement (2021)

Direction: Frederik Louis Hviid, Anders Ølholm
Country: Denmark

The first feature film from the pair of Danish directors Frederik Louis Hviid and Anders Ølholm bring two police officers - the competent Jens Høyer (Simon Sears) and the antagonistic Mike Andersen (Jacob Lohmann) - into a labyrinthine ghetto ravaged by wild riots, looting and general chaos. The reason for this altercation is the death of an Arabic teen while in police custody. With distinct personalities and approaches clashing along the way, these cops in distress have a go at finding their way out, which would be impossible without the help of a young Arab, Amos (Tarek Zayat), whom they have previously stopped and frisked and then arrested. 

Enforcement relies on tense situations of conflict arranged at a furious pace, as well as a heavy dollop of fierce action that manages to create a good impact during its gripping first half. Unfortunately, the plot becomes weaker and the course of events too coincidental in a dissonant latter phase where the two agents see some generous former ‘enemies’ as their saviors. 

The moral ambiguities experienced by the policemen end up in an opportunistic cynicism that brings the film down, revealing an implausible game changer. 

Provocative yet unconvincing, Enforcement will serve more the interests of unconditional enthusiasts of the action genre than actually entertain those looking for a well-calibrated story.

Another Round (2020)

Direction: Thomas Vinterberg
Country: Denmark

Another Round, the 13th feature from Danish director Thomas Vinterberg (The Celebration, 1998; The Hunt, 2012), focuses on four disappointed high school teachers who decide to put in practice a debatable theory from Norwegian psychiatrist Finn Skårderud, which defends that men should maintain a certain amount of alcohol in their blood to improve relaxation and creativity. The idea came from Martin (Mads Mikkelsen), a History teacher, whose plan was forged under the sudden pressure of becoming a more motivating teacher at school as well as a better and more communicative husband at home. He is joined by fellow teachers Nikolaj (Magnus Millang), Tommy (Thomas Bo Larsen) and Peter (Lars Ranthe).

The positive results were pretty much immediate for all, and the usual lifeless classes and despondent mood were replaced by an inspirational approach and some propulsive emotions. The four then decide to raise the alcohol intake for a better performance and further analysis, but while the party time remains exciting, the unhinged disintegration that comes next is pretty ugly. 

Despite the consequences of this deliberate intoxication, the film is never downbeat, rather preferring to look ahead. It’s directly connected to alcoholism but it’s also about life itself and the emotional stagnation and frustration that may come from its routines. The ensemble cast is competent while the sober Vinterberg, who collaborated once more with Tobias Lindholm (A Highjacking, 2012; A War, 2015) in the script, grounds the action firmly in the fantastic camaraderie shared by the friends. The film was awarded distinctive prizes at the BFI London and San Sebastian film festivals.

Queen of Hearts (2019)

Direction: May el-Toukhy
Country: Denmark

Hailing from Denmark, Queen of Hearts is a spellbinding tale of luxury crammed with sexual tension and moral controversy. Co-writter Maren Louise Käehne and director May el-Toukhy had teamed up before in Long Story Short (2015).

With a razor-sharp performance, Trine Dyrholm can be classified as the director’s secret weapon, contributing heavily for the film’s triumph. She is Anne, a successful lawyer and mother of two who seduces her 17-year-old stepson, Gustav (Gustav Lindh), recently after he has joined the family. The explicitness of the sex scenes was an object of severe criticism, but they served to make the story more real, painful, and intensely felt. This moody drama has its pinnacle point when Anne’s secret is blatantly exposed. The situation still casts some doubt in her husband, Peter (Magnus Krepper), and that's when the remorseless Ann is forced to make a decision between her family/career and Gustav. Which will be preserved and which will be destroyed?

Queen of Hearts is a scandalous guilty pleasure that works so well because it’s patiently build with methodical accuracy and brutal authenticity. By focusing on a woman whose exploitative voluptuousness she coldly accepts, el-Toukhy provides us with a tough viewing, but not a superficial experience.

The House That Jack Built (2018)

Directed by Lars Von Trier
Country: Denmark / other

In The House That Jack Built, Lars Von Trier’s subversive artistic qualities remain undiminished, even when he whimsically blurs the picture with a final chapter whose ludicrous irony and misrepresentation prevented the film to ascend to higher levels.

Set in Washington in the 70s and 80s, the story spans 12 years and depicts five random incidents that marked the long serial killing life of Jack (Matt Dillon), a wealthy engineer and a psychopath with severe OCD, who got famous as Mr. Sophistication. The nickname was earned at the expense of inventive atrocities inflicted to his victims, whom he photographed stylishly to fill the media’s first pages. In truth, this man is an art lover who turns his crimes into repulsive art forms. He possesses a salient narcissism that becomes uncontrollable whenever he feels humiliated. David Bowie’s “Fame” often accompanies the post-crime scenes in a way to intensify his sense of swaggering accomplishment.

The morbid occurrences are sequenced with occasional flashbacks showing Jack’s propensity for evil as a child, as well as voice-over conversations with Verge (Bruno Ganz), an imaginary character who appears by the end to show him to the gates of the hell where he belongs.

Although fun-filled, the incidents are uneven and decrease in force with time. The first of them, featuring the irresistible Uma Thurman, is the one that stays longer in the memory.

Dark humor and stinging sarcasm are added in a tale that can be hilarious one minute and gruesome the minute after. You'll need a strong stomach to digest the shocking secrets Jack has to unveil, a disturbing character whose obsession and impulsiveness will destroy him at some point.

While Matt Dillon is insanely convincing in his performance, Von Trier obtains an extravagant blend of horror and humor from the monstrosity of his character.

The Guilty (2018)

Directed by Gustav Moller
Country: Denmark

Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window and Sidney Lumet’s 12 Angry Men are two triumphant films shot in one single room. Probably drawing some inspiration from the cited classics, Swedish-born director Gustav Moller keeps things tense and intense in his debut feature The Guilty, an engrossing Danish suspenser that never leaves the building where the story takes place.

Police officer Asger Holm (Jakob Cedergren, better known for Submarino and Terribly Happy) is reluctantly on duty in an emergency call center of the Copenhagen’s police department after being demoted from his usual obligations: street patrol. The reason for that is kept secret at first, but has to do with an incident under investigation. Not very popular among his colleagues, he feels extremely bored and behaves impatiently with the ceaseless phone calls he gets, most of them unimportant and with no consequence. A man that was mugged by a woman in his own car; another man who took speed and is likely hallucinating; a woman who fell from her bike and wants an ambulance for a minimal wound in her knee; and a woman journalist who wants to give him a chance to defend himself regarding the court case brought against him, are just some examples of how frustrating the job can be.

Nonetheless, when he gets a desperate call from a young mother calling for help, Asger suddenly becomes active and alert. The woman, Ibsen (voice by Jessica Dinnage), was apparently kidnapped by her violent ex-husband Michael, a former convict, leaving two minor children alone at home: Mathilde, six, and Oliver, who is still a baby.

From a distance, and slightly stepping the line that separates duty from emotion, Asger attempts to save the woman and hold her children in safety. While doing it, he does a self-conscious examination and even opens up about a certain conduct he is not proud of. Hence, this complex case, where nothing ends up being what it seems, is addressed by the officer in question as an opportunity for redemption.

With so little, Moller extracted the most of a story he co-wrote with Emil Nygaard Albertsen, also on account of Cedergren’s flawless performance and some clever warps in the script. Sharp close-ups meticulously capture the facial details, behavioral reactions, and moments of irritation due to bureaucratic procedures or vain superior orders. All the rest is left to our imagination.

The Commune (2017)

Directed by Thomas Vinterberg
Country: Denmark / other

Danish filmmaker Thomas Vinterberg, co-founder of the Dogme 95 movement along with Lars Von Trier, is known for some poignant dramas with manifest emotional insight as are the cases of “The Celebration”, his first big hit, “The Hunt”, a worldly acclaimed drama with a strong theme, and “Far From the Madding Crowd”, a well-made British-American adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s novel of the same name. However, his filmography is not always consistent and titles such as “Dear Wendy”, “It’s All About Love”, and “Submarino” are completely dispensable.

Vinterberg co-wrote his new drama, “The Commune”, with a highly respected writer/helmer, Tobias Lindholm (“R”, “Highjacking”, “A War”), but the film is another rough stumble in the wobbly quality of his creations.
Set in the 70s, the film focuses on a successful liberal couple, Erik (Ulrich Thomsen) and Anna Muller (Trine Dyrholm), architecture professor and TV newscaster, respectively, who move with their 14-year old daughter, Freja (Martha Wallstrøm Hansen), into a large but secluded house in Hellerup, North of Copenhagen. The house is too big for them and is Anna’s wish to live in a commune with both old friends and a stranger, a broke foreigner called Allon (Fares Fares).

The other uninteresting dwellers are Ole (Lars Ranthe), Mona (Julie Agnete Vang), and a couple of associate professors whose little son faces a serious heart condition. As they cry and laugh together, everyone knows their place and how to live with respect.

After a chameleonic start that deludes us for brief moments with a perplexing piano melody erroneously announcing a thriller, and then suggesting a possible middle-aged romantic tale before settling in a fellowship adventure, the sharp camera lens fixates on the three main protagonists.

While the temperamental Erik starts an affair with a third-grade college student, Anna enters in a depressive and vicious spiral that will affect her life and work. Freja, who accidentally finds her dad’s secret, also gives the first steps in love with an older boy.

Although one may find genuine moments in the couple’s crisis, there are a bunch of scenes that feel contrived and even touch the ridicule. Perhaps the best example to illustrate this is when Allon does his interview with the commune members. Moreover, the dramatic side, many times enhanced by steep close-ups, is manipulated and conducted with an overwhelming negligence. 

Regardless the wonderful performances by Thomsen and Dyrholm, the narrative engine machinated by Vinterberg needed some more oil to slide out of its torpor. I’ve never found that miraculous spark that captivates, intrigues, and impels us to care about the characters, and that led “The Commune” to become stoic in all its avidity to quickly and easily stir emotions.

Parents (2016)

Directed by Christian Tafdrup
Country: Denmark

Part nostalgic family drama, part preposterous fantasy, “Parents” stumbles in its vague ambition of becoming a hit sensation.

Danish actor turned director, Christian Tafdrup, designed a story that failed to deliver any reward after 86 minutes exploring the impalpable.

The debutant filmmaker builds an interesting premise as he depicts an aging couple, Kjeld (Søren Malling) and Vibeke (Bodil Jørgensen), facing new challenges in their comfortable but somewhat boring life. They’re having a hard time coping with the permanent absence of their young adult son, Esben (Anton Honik) who recently has moved into his own apartment with his girlfriend Sandra (Emilia Imperatore Bjørnvad).

Kjeld loves his wife and does everything for her. However, he’s visibly disappointed with the course his life has taken. One can sense he expects much more from this relationship with the impassionate Vibeke, a despondent mother who shows a steep dependence on her son.

Feeling a bit lost and aimless, husband and wife will gain a new breath when they relocate to a smaller house, the same they had lived thirty years ago while still studying. When Sandra breaks up with Esben, his mother visibly rejoices with the possibility of getting him back. These characters seem not to have friends and we don't see them interact with anyone else rather than the family. 

Weirder tones dominate the second half of the film, after Kjeld and Vibeke inexplicably wake up one morning thirty years younger, but still living in the present time. This was exactly the opportunity Kjeld was hoping for to bring his wife closer to him again, at least physically. However, and for our surprise, the young Vibeke (Miri Ann Beuschel) starts an incestuous relationship with the spoiled Esben, while the forlorn Kjeld (Elliott Crosset Hove) continues obsessively sculpting and arranging the house in order to make it look exactly how it was before.

These surreal occurrences get you baffled and alert, and yet the film never pays you back. In truth, the unsolved puzzle suggests many things, metaphorically speaking, but the psychological drama advances without objectivity, hobbling in its cold energy and hampering me from drawing any satisfaction from its observation.

Tafdrup directed with both confidence and competence and the cinematography by Maria von Hausswolff was valuable. On the other hand, the acting didn’t always feel solid.

Some other films succeeded by persistently dwelling in this sort of unintelligible limbo, however, “Parents” didn’t have that special tone capable of making me search unconditionally until the last minute.

Land of Mine (2015)

Directed by Pieter Zandvliet
Country: Denmark / Germany

Martin Pieter Zandvliet’s “Land of Mine”, a fictional drama centered on the landmine clearance of the Danish West coast in the aftermath of the WWII, is simultaneously cruel and humane.

To accomplish this hazardous mission, a high-ranked official, Sgt. Carl Rasmussen (Roland Møller), is assign to command a group of young German soldiers, turned prisoners of war, who before being sent to the desolated beaches along the coast, receive their first training sessions on how to disarm landmines, explosive devices that most of them have never seen before. The insensible Lt. Ebbe Jensen (Mikkel Boe Følsgaard), who really doesn’t care if the soldiers die or live, gives the first instructions.
After being minimally trained, they join the implacable Sgt. Rasmussen, who despite the violent first scenes, in which he humiliates a German soldier, shows not to be so heartless as he seemed. 
He gets surprised when he realizes that the platoon under his orders is just made of a few homesick, hungry boys who still call for their mom when something goes wrong. They’re really young and innocuous.

After a flash adaptation to the job and a few lamentable incidents, the boys, acting fast and accurate, gain the desired experience and also the fondness of their leader, who starts to treat them in a more humane way, even protecting them from external abusers.
Expecting to go home after the job done, as they were promised, the team removes 1200 landmines but the reality that awaits them is very different.

The film follows similar lines as Paul Katis’ “Kajaki” without reaching its highly absorbing levels.
Mr. Zandvliet often struggles to give the film an original perspective, in the same manner that he struggles to build his characters with a fully shaped dimension. One issue resides in the constant radical changes in posture observed on Sgt. Rasmussen, which feels contrived. 
Using a moderated pace to get his ideas flowing, Mr. Zandvliet, who also wrote the screenplay, recurrently pushes this dramatic game of nerves to the limit.

A War (2015)

Directed by Tobias Lindholm
Country: Denmark

Tobias Lindholm is a commendable Danish writer-director who proved his tremendous quality in intelligent, realistic dramas such as “R” and “A Highjacking”. 
In his latest, entitled “A War”, he earnestly portrays a thorny occurrence that deeply affects the life of a soldier in two different fronts: the military and the civilian. Commander Claus Pedersen (compellingly played by Lindholm’s regular, Pilou Asbæk) leaves his wife and three little children in Denmark and sets foot in the Afghan Helmand province, where he orients a small squad whose purpose is to guarantee the safety of the population, often threatened by the vile Taliban. Their mission in the Middle East also includes locating potential suspects and exterminating them, in the case they’re confirmed as enemies. 

The hardships of war are demonstrated in several ways by Mr. Lindholm, who starts his psychological assault to our minds when a young soldier dies ingloriously after stepping on a landmine. He was replacing another squad member who gets psychologically affected by the incident and, without trying to hide the tears in his eyes, begs his superior to return home. The request is denied by the considerate commander Claus, who can’t do much beyond assigning him duties inside the base, at least for some days. In the meantime, Claus’ wife, Maria (Tuva Novotny), tries the best she can to handle their three children, but not without a few startling incidents. 

The peak of the story, which triggers a complex moral question, is reached when, under heavy crossfire, the pressured Claus is forced to make a tough decision that will change his life forever. In order to protect his men, the brave officer, who frequently participates in the peripheral guarding missions with his patrol unit, orders a deadly attack on a delicate area called Compound 6, which he considered a military target. Shockingly, 11 civilians died in the attack, including women and children. Promptly dismissed, he’s sent back to Denmark in order to be tried, and facing the possibility of being sentenced to four years in prison for crimes of war. The accusation relies on a video from a helmet cam, photographic material, and testimonies of some of his men. 
It’s during this final section that we’re swallowed by a critical moral dilemma. Claus is ready to assume his guilt and willing to confess his mistake, but Maria persuades him of the opposite, begging him to plead innocence for the sake of their children.

Unpretentious, unfussy, and never beyond the limits of reasonable, “A War” evolves in a crescendo, exhibiting perfectly-shaped human characters molded through a rigorous approach that reinforces the urgency of its anti-war message. The finale, not so soothing as some viewers would like it to be, makes us carry this overwhelming weight in our chests. The absence of musical score also enlarges this discomfort.

A Second Chance (2014)

Directed by: Susanne Bier
Country: Denmark

Movie Review: Promising were the first scenes of “A Second Chance”, a psychological crime thriller from the Danish filmmaker Susanne Bier, who filmed again in her country after the unexcitable American-French drama “Serena”, which once more gathered the trendy leading actors, Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence. Unfortunately, the disquieting beginning soon slides into something, not only dark but ghastly, as well as revelatory but also disproportionate and strained. The grim plot, written by Bier’s long-time collaborator Anders Thomas Jensen (“Brothers”, “In a Better World”), is certainly his heaviest, and tells the story of Andreas (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), a cop who reconnects with a known dangerous psychopath and heroin addict, Tristan (Nikolaj Lie Kaas), whose girlfriend, Sanne (May Andersen), called the police in an attempt to protect herself and their baby who was lying down inside a closet in deplorable conditions. This instance had emotional repercussions in Andreas who ran home to make sure his own little baby and his fatigued, vulnerable wife, Anne (Maria Bonnevie), were ok. At a first glance, everything was fine, but when unexpectedly the baby dies, the couple acts in a very distinct way. She completely freaks out, acting insane, while he maintains an earnest calmness but already with a not less insane plan in his mind: drop off his inanimate baby at the heroin junkies’ and steal theirs, in an attempt to ease the suicidal Anna. The brute Tristan, only thinking about how to avoid being sent to jail again, decides to simulate a kidnapping. Cold, depressing, and quite messy, “A Second Chance” takes the emotions to an extreme that doesn’t make it easy for the viewer to empathize with any of the unbalanced characters. Among the grievous performances, Mrs. Bonnevie stood out, in a screwed up tale that, even before halfway, made me lose hope in its personas. Mrs. Bier delays getting out of the tortuous cinematic paths she keeps embarking lately.

Silent Heart (2014)

Directed by: Bille August
Country: Denmark

Movie Review: A very typical mood, composed of inherent tension and restrained laughter, it’s perceptible since the first minutes of the Scandinavian drama “Silent Heart” - part reflection on euthanasia, part portrait of a dysfunctional family. Directed by the veteran Bille August (“Pelle the Conqueror”, “The Best Intentions”), the story follows a family reunited during a weekend to spend their last days with Esther, the matriarch who suffers from ALS (a disorder involving the death of neurons). With the consent of the rest of the family, Esther has decided to spare everyone from the hardship that is stealthily approaching, and put an end to her life under the supervision of her doctor husband, Poul. Present at the reunion are: their exemplary older daughter Heidi, accompanied by her husband and adolescent son; their vulnerable, depressive younger daughter Sanne who took her weed junkie boyfriend with her; and finally Esther’s long-time best friend, Lisbeth. As expected, the plan won’t be too simple since the daughters planned to boycott the action after changing their minds for different reasons. A variety of personalities and needs, revelations and insecurities, old family memories, and some fabricated misunderstandings, make the rest of the story until the last moments, where the drama intensifies. In my eyes, the ending was a bit contrived, but Bille August, who always had a flair for pretty decent dramas, leaves in the air a sensation that he’s capable of giving us much better than this. From gentle to bitter, the sometimes-manipulative “Silent Heart” has its best scene when all the family agrees on smoking pot. The images were painted with dismayed colors, punctuated here and there by outdoor beautiful landscapes. Does serenity live here?

The Salvation (2014)

Directed by: Kristian Levring
Country: Denmark / UK / others

Movie Review: “The Salvation”, a Danish western directed by Kristian Levring and co-written with the credited Anders Thomas Jensen (mostly known for Susanne Bier’s dramas), swings between the positive and the negative, escaping from a more severe sentence due to the solid performances from Mads Mikkelsen and Jeffrey Dean Morgan, some interesting details on direction, and a great visual design by cinematographer Jens Schlosser. The time is 1817. Jon (Mikkelsen) is a pacific Danish citizen and former soldier who settled himself in America seven years before, in the company of his brother, leaving his wife and son behind with the promise that one day they would join him. That day finally arrived, but instead of celebrate, Jon will mourn his family, killed by two abusive strangers who shared the same carriage that would take them home. Driven by indignation and grief, Jon makes justice with his own hands, never imagining he could still be in trouble. One of the men was the brother of Delarue (Morgan), the town’s savage ruler who swore revenge, ordering the frightened sheriff to bring him the responsible man alive. Jon wouldn’t be able to get away if he hadn’t the help of a 16-year-old boy and Delarue’s mute sister-in-law who was saved from the Indians and now refuses to submit herself to his whims. Clear skies and extensive prairies don’t hide the gloominess of a story whose predictability and far-fetched scenes (a silly escape from prison and a cigar who sets one of the villains on fire) are weighing factors. The finale didn’t satisfy either, proving the steep decline of a Scandinavian western that even started at full steam. It probably might work fine for the admirers of western category, but for me it got stranded in the difficult lands of screenwriting.

When Animals Dream (2014)

Directed by: Jonas Alexander Arnby
Country: Denmark

Country: “When Animals Dream” marks the directorial debut for Danish filmmaker, Jonas Alexander Arnby, who counted with a convincing performance by Sonia Suhl and an admirable cinematography by Niels Thastum, to present a modern werewolf tale set in a small fishing village of Denmark. The script, written by Rasmus Birch, focuses on 19 year-old Marie (Suhl) who starts to be concerned about a rash that appeared in her chest. During a medical check-up done by the family doctor, he seemed to know exactly what this is about, since Marie’s mother had evinced similar symptoms before she became mute and completely debilitated for mysterious reasons. Everyone in town looks at Marie with a certain fear and suspicion, exactly as they were doing with her mother whose past is shrouded in blood. However, in her new job at the fish processing plant, Marie seems to get along with Daniel and Felix, but starts having some issues with Esben, a jerk who enjoys pulling tasteless pranks. Frustrated with the increase of strange symptoms (alterations on nails and gums, hair growth over the body, and a radical change of behavior), sad with the illness of her mother, and not very happy at her job, Marie was completely aware of her condition. The question was to know when and how it would happen, and who would be hurt. The idea behind “When Animals Dream” was auspicious, and Arnby was even capable of bestowing a chilled mood, similar to what we saw in “Let the Right One In”. However, the story’s conclusion felt hasty and short, interrupting what it had been built so tastefully. A more psychological approach was chosen instead of the usual graphical, and Arnby proves us he can cook a story. He just needs to throw in some surprise factors, especially for the endings.

Nymphomaniac: Vol. I and II (2013)

Directed by: Lars Von Trier
Country: Demnark / others

Movie Review: Polemic filmmaker Lars Von Trier needed two parts of almost two hours each, and eight chapters, to tell the story of Joe, a self entitled nymphomaniac who recalls the most important details of her life in the presence of Seligman, a literate man who found her beaten up on an alley. Always provocative, as “Breaking the Waves” and “The Idiots” once were, “Nymphomaniac” mixes meditative observations of every kind – personal, social, artistic, religious – with explicit and incisive sexual moments whose occasional aggressiveness and psychological intrigue maintain the experience unique. The involving complexity showed in Joe’s behavior, her fearless risky games, fierce impulses, and constant demand for new sensations, put her in the limits of pleasure and suffering. Joe’s narrative touches in crucial points such as childhood and adolescence, loss of virginity, her love for Jerome with whom she had a son, obsession for sex, uncomfortable situations involving a married man and his family, the peculiar relationship with her loving dad and contempt of her mother, the ineffectiveness of group therapy, and final disillusions when she met a younger woman. Charlotte Gainsbourg became a natural choice for von Trier after the notable impressions left in “Antichrist” and “Melancholia”. Demanding some effort from the viewers, “Nymphomaniac” is aggressive, raw and deliberately explicit, but also philosophical in its analysis (human and artistic) and grievous in its finale. It’s a relentless study of an obsessive woman who desperately needs some humanity and compassion. Smiles and disturbance are guaranteed for the ones who see it with an open mind.