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Showing posts with label Finland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Finland. Show all posts

Friday, February 18, 2022

Top Scandinavian Films of All Time

Wonders in the Dark is having a top 20 Scandinavian films poll. The list of countries also includes Iceland, so in essence, it is a Nordic countries poll. That means the film output will primarily be from 5 countries - Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark and Iceland. One day, I hope to see films from Faroe Islands and Greenland.

As Sam Juliano pointed out, the challenge is restricting the number of Ingmar Bergman films for this list. I could have slotted half of this list with Bergman films. Instead, I restricted that number to 5 Bergman films or 25% of this list. In addition, I also managed to keep Lars von Trier entries to just 3 films.

Top 20 Scandinavian films of all time list:

1. The Seventh Seal (1957, Sweden, Ingmar Bergman)
2. The Emigrants / The New Land (1971/1972, Sweden, Jan Troell)
3. Babette’s Feast (1987, Denmark, Gabriel Axel)
4. Ordet (1955, Denmark, Carl Theodor Dryer)
5. The Phantom Carriage (1921, Sweden, Victor Sjöström)
6. Wild Strawberries (1957, Sweden, Ingmar Bergman)
7. The Celebration (1998, Denmark, Thomas Vinterberg)
8. Songs from the Second Floor (2000, Sweden, Roy Andersson)
9. A Winter Light (1963, Sweden, Ingmar Bergman)
10. Dancer in the Dark (2000, Denmark, Lars von Trier)
11. The Man Without a Past (2002, Finland co-production, Aki Kaurismäki)
12. Shame (1968, Sweden, Ingmar Bergman)
13. Scenes from a Marriage (1973, Sweden, Ingmar Bergman)
14. Breaking the Waves (1996, Denmark, Lars von Trier)
15. Pusher (1996, Denmark, Nicolas Winding Refn)
16. Children / Parents (2006/2007, Iceland, Ragnar Bragason)
17. Show Me Love (1998, Sweden, Lukas Moodysson)
18. Force Majeure (2014, Sweden, Ruben Östlund)
19. Pelle the Conqueror (1987, Denmark/Sweden, Bille August)
20. Steam of Life (2010, Finland, Joonas Berghäll/Mika Hotakainen)


Films from different countries:

There are 22 films for the 20 spots.

Sweden (11): The Emigrants and The New Land count as one entry
Denmark (7)
Finland (2)
Iceland (2): Children and Parents count as one spot

Unfortunately, no film from Norway made the cut.

Sunday, November 06, 2011

Invisible Cinema

The following words stand out from Anthony Lane's article for the New Yorker:

There’s only one problem with home cinema: it doesn’t exist. The very phrase is an oxymoron. As you pause your film to answer the door or fetch a Coke, the experience ceases to be cinema. Even the act of choosing when to watch means you are no longer at the movies. Choice—preferably an exhaustive menu of it—pretty much defines our status as consumers, and has long been an unquestioned tenet of the capitalist feast, but in fact carte blanche is no way to run a cultural life (or any kind of life, for that matter), and one thing that has nourished the theatrical experience, from the Athens of Aeschylus to the multiplex, is the element of compulsion.
................

As Justine’s mother says of marriage, and as the movie tries to say of mortal life, so we should say of cinema: “Enjoy it while it lasts.”


His words may be applicable to those who live in New York City but they hold very little relevance outside New York. The truth is that for people living in North American cities aside from New York and to some extent LA or Toronto, home is the only logical option to watch foreign films. There are no choices for people in majority of North American cities to catch Melancholia or even The Turin Horse in their local cinema. I can confidently vouch for the latter because no Bela Tarr film has ever played in my city. As for Melancholia, it might eventually get here but it won't be until the summer of 2012, more than a year after its Cannes premier. Is that considered a valid choice? Not really especially if the film is going to be available officially in Europe via DVD or by digital pay options much earlier than that.

Talking about the pure experience of cinema is not relevant for people whose weekly cinematic choices are Spider Man 1: the 10th remake, Shrek 7, Transformers 5 or Harry Potter, the diaper years. If these are the only theatrical options that I have each week, then I rather not visit a cinema hall.

Thankfully, there are great films being made around the world every year even though access to such films is getting more and more restricted via traditional theatrical means. Even rental DVD is getting hard as local independent DVD stores across Canada are vanishing at a fast rate. Before anyone else blames Netflix, they need to have a look at the dismal selection of films available on Netflix Canada. As for digital/pay-for-view options, they mostly carry the same Hollywood titles that play in every Canadian multiplex. However, the foreign films are out there. The onus is now on each cinephile to look hard to find those precious films lurking in some region free DVD zone or via other digital means.

Here are just a few worthy films from the last few years that I was lucky enough to see via the film festival circuit. For the most part, these films are still invisible to the rest of the world. That is a shame because they demand to be seen:

Manuel di Ribera (2010, Chile, Pablo Carrera/Christopher Murray)

This visually stunning film is a fascinating mix of Lisandro Alonso and Bela Tarr yet is completely original. The lonely journeys of Manuel, conducted with the aid of boats, has touches of Alonso (from both Los Muertos & Liverpool) while the mostly grayish/dark environment and the drunken locals' distrust of Manuel feels similar to Tarr's The Outsider and Satantango. Also, the film brilliantly plays with the concept of reality by having two almost similar scenes of an event incorporated into the film -- one real and one imagined. The audience is left to figure out what the reality is.

The Intern (2010, Argentina, Clara Picasso)

Clara Picasso's sublime film cleverly uses a Buenos Aires hotel setting as a springboard to examine wider issues, such as male-female power games and the thin boundary that exists between private and public life. Not a single minute is wasted in the film's brisk 64 minutes. Almost at each 20 minute segment, the viewer has to track back to the previous segment to get a clue as to mystery or relationship tussle taking place on screen. The end result is an engaging film.

R (2010, Denmark, Tobias Lindholm/Michael Noer)

The tag 'dark film' is easily thrown around but in the case of R, the tag is entirely justified. The film makes the wonderful Un prophète look like a feel good happy film. Besides being completely savage, R is intelligent and that is demonstrated by a clever perspective shift two-thirds into the film which shows the similar hierarchies of two rival gangs.

Hunting & Zn (2010, Holland, Sander Burger)

This powerful Dutch film shows how a complicated relationship can be strained when lies and a pregnancy enters the equation. Like Maren Ade's brilliant Everyone Else, this film is bold enough to look at the nasty side that exists in all relationships and thereby causes the audience to get deeply involved with the film. As a warning, pregnant women or couples expecting a child might want to brace themselves for an emotionally challenging film.

Breathless (2009, South Korea, Yang Ik-June)

This debut feature by Yang Ik-June packs quite a punch and as per the title leaves one breathless. There are many movies which claim to be anti-violence but instead end up glorifying violence because the consequences of violence is never fully explored. On the other hand, Breathless clearly depicts the danger of a violent life, whether that life is in a household or in a gang. There is a consequence to every violent action and Yang Ik-June’s film has a purpose for every scene of violence and abuse.

The Happiest Girl in the World (2009, Romania co-production, Radu Jude)

Winning a free car is supposed to usher in new freedom for Delia Fratila. All she has to do is act in a 35 second car commercial and drive away with her new car. But things don’t turn out to be that simple. Her parents want to exchange the car for money to finance a better future and the commercial shoot turns out to be an artistic and physical challenge. Funny and engaging. Another vintage film from Romania.

Katalin Varga (2009, Romania co-production, Peter Strickland)

Devastating cinema! After Katalin is kicked out of her home along with her son, she undertakes a journey. The music points to a dark past and even a darker future. Indeed, there is some darkness for Katalin Varga is a revenge tale. But it is unlike any other revenge movie. In fact, it carves out its own rules for vengeance. That means no dramatic dialogues but instead we are treated to beautiful images and haunting music which conveys the hovering tension in the air.

Call If You Need Me (2009, Malaysia, James Lee)

A visually sharp film that combines the sensibilities of diverse film-makers such as Hou Hsiao-Hsien, Pen-Ek Ratanaruang and Quentin Tarantino while still retaining a unique Malaysian flavour. Hou Hsiao-Hsien elevated a gangster film to an art form with Goodbye South Goodbye and James Lee does a very job in carrying on that tradition. Call if you Need me is about gangsters and kidnappings but there isn’t a single gun or drop of blood to be found on screen. All the violence is kept out of the frame and we are instead shown events that precede or succeed a violent act. The lack of violence allows audience to focus on the characters and their day to day lives, including their love interests and their choice of food and drugs.

Rough Cut (2008, Korea, Hun Jang)

Rough Cut has taken some aspects of the extraordinary Korean film Dirty Carnival and gone in a different direction with good effect. Dirty Carnival showed how gangsters complained about movies not having authentic fight scenes and in order to correct things, a local gangster (Byeong-du) helped his old college friend (Min-ho) to make an authentic gangster film by giving pointers to the actors and fight instructors. In Rough Cut, a once popular action star asks a local gangster to play a villain in his movies so that the actor can save his career. The gangster, who always dreamed of being an actor himself, agrees provided that all the fight scenes in the film are real and not staged. The end result is a no holds barred on screen contest where even the film’s director has no idea if the end result would hold true to his original script.

Wonderful Town (2007, Thailand, Aditya Assarat)

Wonderful Town is a tender love story between a Bangkok architect Ton, who comes to the southern Thai town Pakua Pak to work on a new beach resort, and Na, the owner of the hotel that Ton stays in. Everything in the film exists in harmony, be it the haunted house, the construction of the new resort, the empty hotel, the isolated beach or even a road-side garage. The town is empty, almost a ghost town, where everyone knows each other. Yet this loneliness never feels oppressive but just a natural cycle of life.

Kill the Referee (2009, Belgium, Y.Hinant/E.Cardot/L.Delphine)

This Belgium soccer documentary does not have any narration or title cards to guide the audience but instead dives right into the action. Like the Zidane film, this documentary gives a completely different perspective to what one experiences when watching a soccer game. One gets to see the game from an on-field angle, but instead of a player's point of view, we see the game from a referee's angle.

This film is essential viewing for anyone who has ever seen a soccer game. And since the film is artistically shot and edited, it offers non-soccer fans plenty to chew on as well. The games shown in the film are from Euro 2008 and if a person is familiar with some of the players, then that enhances the experience. This film does an excellent job in showing us the human side of the refs and also some of the egos that operate in the game.

Steam of Life (2010, Finland, Joonas Berghäll/Mika Hotakainen)

A beautifully shot contemplative film that places the viewer in an awkward position of a voyeur observing Finnish men pour their heart out while sitting in a variety of saunas. The film remarkably shows that any enclosed space can be transformed into a sauna, even a phone booth, and the calming effect of the steam is essential to allow men to tackle life's daily burdens.

Woman without a Piano (2009, Spain, Javier Rebollo)

A sublime film that uses a low key treatment in depicting a single night's events. The camera quietly follows Carmen around and the events that unfold around her are hilarious and sad at the same time. The film is set in Madrid and in some alleys we see situations which Pedro Almovodar uses in his films but Woman without a Piano is an art film through and through, with a pinch of comedy.

Note: I have mentioned these films previously but I still get puzzled looks when I talk about these films to people. Since I have no power over these film's distribution, all I can do is repeat my words.

Tuesday, December 07, 2010

Around the world in 24 films

Just a brief mention of some worthy newer films from around the world. Some of these films will surely end up in my year end best list.

Note: films arranged as per country.

El Camino du punto (2010, Argentina, Sebastián Díaz Morales)

The title's translation, The Way Between Two Points, perfectly sums the film which is about a character's journey from point A to point B. There are only a few minutes of dialog at the start and these dialogues are the weakest aspect of the film as the words needlessly try to give the story a higher worldly purpose. After the words are delivered, the film settles into a beautiful journey where we get both an overhead shot of the landscape that is to be covered and the ground level footage of the journey. The singular focus of the journey at all costs reminds a bit about The Limits of Control and Birdsong but El Camino du punto is free from any dramatic or religious baggage of those two other films.

Kill the Referee (2009, Belgium, Y.Hinant/E.Cardot/L.Delphine)

This Belgium soccer documentary does not have any narration or title cards to guide the audience but instead dives right into the action. Like the Zidane film, this documentary gives a completely different perspective to what one experiences when watching a soccer game. One gets to see the game from an on-field angle, but instead of a player's point of view, we see the game from a referee's angle.

This film is essential viewing for anyone who has ever seen a soccer game. And since the film is artistically shot and edited, it offers non-soccer fans plenty to chew on as well. The games shown in the film are from Euro 2008 and if a person is familiar with some of the players, then that enhances the experience. This film does an excellent job in showing us the human side of the refs and also some of the egos that operate in the game.

A Simple Rhythm (2010, Canada, Tess Girard)

A poetic and mesmerizing look at simple day to day rhythms that shape our lives. The film artfully layers images with sounds to create a calming and fascinating experiencing. In between the images are thoughtful interviews on a variety of subjects, ranging from music to mathematics.

Viva Riva! (2010, Congo co-production, Djo Munga)

In the TIFF write-up, Cameron Bailey noted:

Finally! An African feature film that merges the pleasures of Nollywood with sleek camerawork, satisfying genre thrills and a rare look inside the very heart of the continent. Viva Riva! is unprecedented: a story set in contemporary Democratic Republic of the Congo full of intrigue, music and a surprisingly frank approach to sex.

That is a perfect description as Viva Riva! molds elements of oil trafficking, corruption, violence and sex into an enjoyable film. In the fashion of Nollywood films, the villain is sinister and over the top while the hero, Riva, is a charming intelligent man who can have any woman he wants. Ofcourse, Riva falls for the one woman who will lead him into trouble but Nora is too seductive to resist. The camera ensures that Nora's beauty and Kinshasa's buzzing street life are captured nicely.

Valhalla Rising (2010, Denmark/UK, Nicolas Winding Refn)

The film starts off in an ancient time when men settled their disputes face to face in a bloody hand to hand combat. However, as the warrior crew enters a new land, the change in warfare tactics ensures that man will have to learn to adapt in order to survive. In the new land, arrows fired from unseen enemies lead to death meaning one could die at the hands of someone they do not even see.

A savage bloody film that is also one of the year's best.

Scheherazade Tell me a Story (2009, Egypt, Yousry Nasrallah)

The film uses a soap opera/talk show format to probe at deeper issues not only within Egyptian society but the rest of the Middle East especially regarding the treatment of women in households and at workplaces. It helps that the film is well acted and packed with more gorgeous women than one would find even in a Pedro Almodovar movie. Overall, a pleasurable film.

Steam of Life (2010, Finland, Joonas Berghäll/Mika Hotakainen)

A beautifully shot contemplative film that places the viewer in an awkward
position of a voyeur observing Finnish men pour their heart out while sitting in a variety of saunas. The film remarkably shows that any enclosed space can be transformed into a sauna, even a phone booth, and the calming effect of the steam is essential to allow men to tackle life's daily burdens.

Win/Win (2010, Holland, Jaap van Heusden)

This Dutch film about a stock exchange manages to find a calm balanced middle ground in between Ben Younger's Boiler Room and Aronofsky's Pi. In fact, the main character in Win/Win Ivan looks like a more laid back version of Max from Pi. Win/Win artfully shows that it is possible to find zen like moments even in a high octane stock market setting.

Gallants (2009, Hong Kong, Clement Sze-Kit Cheng/Chi-kin Kwok)

A homage to the 1970’s Shaw Brothers films, complete with amazing fight sequences, memorable characters and over the top hilarious situations. Even if one is not familiar with older kung-fu movies, this film stands on its own. Knowing about the Shaw Brothers films will just enhance the experience. There are some moments when the action stalls but the film has many high energy moments. The homage would have been perfect if the film title was something which captured the story’s spirit such as “Gates of Law” or if the title used a variation of the words “Dragon”, “Tiger” or “kick”.

Ocean of an Old Man (2008, India, Rajesh Shera)

Simple. Beautiful. Meditative. Haunting. Tragic.

The old man in the title is played by Tom Alter, easily recognizable to Bollywood fans because he always played an evil villain in Indian films, and was almost always an evil British general in period films. In Rajesh Shera's film, Alter's character plays a school teacher who is devastated by the loss of his wife and daughter in 2004's tsunami. Unfortunately, he can never forget his loss as he has to cross the same ocean everyday to teach his students. To make matters worse, he has to listen to the ocean waves crashing onto the shore and rocks every night while in the day, his students paintings and stories revolve only around the ocean.

There isn’t much dialogue in the film but that does not matter because the beautiful images and fascinating sounds convey the tragedy and gravity of the situation. Also, the sound track is smartly turned off when the sounds of the ocean fill the screen. The minimalist style might frustrate some viewers but patient viewers will be rewarded with an absolute gem of a film.

Peepli Live (2010, India, Anusha Rizvi)

A smart satire that uses the real life story about farmer suicides to poke fun at the mercenary Indian satellite tv channels preoccupied with ratings. However, Peepli Live does feel like two films in one. The film starts off in the village but then lets the media circus take things over. At times, the two stories (farmer suicide, tv ratings circus) compete with each other and eventually the farmer story is brushed aside. Also, there are some moments where the film un-necessarily goes over the top (such as the mention of Saif Ali Khan's grade 8 kiss) when a more subtle approach would have sufficed.

Overall, it does feel like a lost opportunity to make a truly great film. That being said, the ending is perfect when the camera shows us images without any words.

Gorbaciòf (2010, Italy, Stefano Incerti)

The sound of Gorbaciòf's proud walk on the streets and the sound of money stay long in the memory after the film ends. Many films show bundles of money but not many films actually let the sound of crisp notes being counted filter through to the audience. Gorbaciòf counts money everyday both in his day job and at night with his bribe money. The dangerous combination of taking bribes and gambling is never a safe bet for a trouble free life but Gorbaciòf's problems multiply when he falls for a Chinese woman who does not speak any Italian. Gorbaciòf wants to be the woman's knight in shining armour and in order to ensure a better life for her, he needs more money. That need leads him down a slippery yet predictable slope. The love angle is the film's weakest aspect and if it were not for the love story, Incerti's film would be one of the year's best films.

On another note: the male leads in The American, Gorbaciòf and The Robber are all related with their dangerous ways of life. It is not surprizing that the ending of all three films finds these three very different men (an American, Austrian and an Italian) in the exact same situation looking through the glass towards a better future.

The Tiger Factory (2010, Malaysia/Japan, Woo Ming Jin)

The film follows a young girl, Ping, in her attempt to gather money to illegally leave Malaysia for Japan. Ping's life is controlled by her aunt who witholds her passport and pays for men to get Ping pregnant so that the aunt can sell the baby. The story sounds bleak but thanks to the cinematography and lighting, the film does not feel gloomy and instead makes for a fascinating viewing. The style evokes the Dardennes, albeit with a bit of lightness.

Woman on Fire Looks for Water (2009, Malaysia/South Korea, Woo Ming Jin)

This is one of the most visually beautiful films of the year!! The film is about two love tales on opposite ends of the age spectrum. One story shows how a young boy is forced to take his family's fortune into account before deciding upon marriage while the other story shows if love is not truly acknowledged, then even at old age, it continues to torment and bite. In between these two stories, there are many remakarable shots which show the fishing business and every day life, plus there is plenty of humor shown in a subtle manner.

Kinatay (2009, Philippines, Brillante Mendoza)

The first 20-30 min of Kinatay perfectly capture the sights and sounds of the street life. After that, the camera moves inside a van and this is where the negative publicity regarding the film starts. Although it is hard to understand what all the fuss is about because there is nothing graphic or gory that is shown but instead we mostly listen to sounds of the horrible butchering and only see a tiny glimpse of the murder weapon. The briefly lit scenes allows viewers to fill in the horror themselves using the audio cues. Maybe in a theater, these audio cues are magnified thereby causing a claustorphobic effect.

Still, the film is powerful in how it goes about showing what it does and it is hard to be not shook up by the ending. I can see why Mendoza was awarded the best director for this film in Cannes 2009.

Lola (2009, Philippines, Brillante Mendoza)

Lola is a touching film regarding two grandmothers and how they go about dealing with their lives while finding themselves as opponents in a criminal case. One woman is seeking justice for her grandson’s murder, while the other is trying to save her grandson from going to jail for murdering the other woman’s grandson. The film switches perspective from one grandmother to the other and this method highlights many relevant points such as the true price of justice for people who are trying to make ends meet.

Manilla Skies (2009, Philippines/USA, Raymond Red)

The start gives a false impression of being another film depicting the frustration of being jobless in a major Asian city but the story then takes a dramatic turn towards a heist and an even more unexpected turn towards a plane hijacking. The cyclic nature of the ending, when one of the final scenes is neatly tied with the opening shot, depicts a beautiful pattern to the story. The lead performance is amazing and the film grows in strength as it moves along. Also, the dark/grayish visuals perfectly echo the gloomy mood of the character's situation. Amazingly, the film is inspired by a true story.

Essential Killing (2010, Poland co-production, Jerzy Skolimowski)

Like in Valhalla Rising, the male lead in Essential Killing never speaks a single word. Yet, Vincent Gallo's character does not need to talk as his expressions of pain and anguish perfectly convey his inner feelings. Gallo plays a taliban fighter who is captured in Afghanistan but finds himself on the run in a frozen European country side after a series of events lead to his escape. From then on, the film alternates between chase scenarios as the dogs/soldiers close down on Gallo's character and survival scenes where his character does anything just to survive in the brutal cold. It is understandable to see why Gallo won best actor in Venice for this film as his raw performance shows how much can be conveyed without needless dramatic dialogues.

Between Two Worlds (2009, Sri Lanka, Vimukthi Jayasundara)

This Sri Lankan film is a good example of what Bresson mentioned in his book, Notes on the Cinematographer, in the Sight and Hearing section:

”What is for the eye must not duplicate what is for the ear."

”If the eye is entirely won, give nothing or almost nothing to the ear. (And vice versa, if the ear is entirely won, give nothing to the eye.) One cannot be at the same time all eye and all ear.

”If a sound is the obligatory complement of an image, give preponderance either to the sound, or to the image. If equal, they damage or kill each other, as we say of colours.


Between Two Worlds has a beautiful visual and aural language while the story has a nice fable and mythical element to it. There are some scenes which fluidly mesh the imagined and real with a smooth easy manner. The only minor complaint is that some scenes appear staged, drawing attention to themselves and thereby weakening the dramatic effect of the situation. Two such examples are the youthful mob at the film's start and the dance by the river near the end.

Guest (2010, Spain, José Luis Guerín)

Guest is José Luis Guerín's travelogue of his year long film festival circuit tour from September 2007 till September 2008 with his film In the City of Sylvia. Even though Guest starts and ends at the Venice Film Festival, Guest is not a documentary about film festivals. Instead, it is a truly global film that gives a glimpse into everyday life in open public squares in various places such as Bolivia, Columbia, Peru, Brazil, Mexico, Cuba and Hong Kong. Places that do not have open squares are not covered by his film which naturally means that Canada and the US are not shown on the screen. For example, Guerín was in Vancouver in 2007 to premier In the City of Sylvia but Vancouver does not get a single shot in the film. Basically, any place that did not have adequate public space would not have allowed Guerín to interact with the locals and get their views. Guerín freely filmed everything around him and was not shy to keep his camera rolling. As a result, we get to witness some fascinating parallels regarding religion in diverse places such as Brazil and Hong Kong. Guest takes about 20 minutes to spring to life but once it awakens, it has plenty of interesting stories to share.

Woman without a Piano (2009, Spain, Javier Rebollo)

A sublime film that uses a low key treatment in depicting a single night's events. The camera quietly follows Carmen around and the events that unfold around her are hilarious and sad at the same time. The film is set in Madrid and in some alleys we see situations which Pedro Almovodar uses in his films but Woman without a Piano is an art film through and through, with a pinch of comedy.

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010, Thailand co-production, Apichatpong Weerasethakul)

Joe's film is a visual treat like his previous works but instead of the two part structure found in Tropical Malady and Syndromes and a Century, Uncle Boonmee is a single flowing work that manages to blend the two worlds of humans and spirits. This is his most accessible work and also his most openly political. In Blissfully Yours one could faintly hear the tank fire going on in the distance but the soldiers were not shown. However, in Uncle Boonmee we get to see futuristic pictures (really the present) of army actions. As enchanting as the film is, it pales slightly to the hypnotic beauty of Tropical Malady and Syndromes... Still even a Joe lite work is better than most current world cinema.

Four Lions (2010, UK, Christopher Morris)

A well made and acted film from the two writers of the witty In the Loop. Four Lions tries to use the same humour style of In the Loop with mixed results. The humour style of In the Loop made sense because it dealt with the circus like world of politics where a single sentence can be endlessly interpreted and rehashed. However, that style is more difficult to pull off with a topic of terrorism and suicide bombers. In that regard, one can watch Four Lions in a state of shocked horror and find it entirely offensive. The film is also brave in its treatment of the subject, especially since neither of the writers or director is Muslim.

Spoiler note:*****

Credit must go to the film-makers for remarkably maintaining the same consistent tone throughout even after the characters start dying whereas it would have been easier for the film to have taken on a more serious tone after the first accidental death.

Monogamy (2010, USA, Dana Adam Shapiro)

A fascinating modern day treatment of Antonioni’s Blow Up. Blow Up was made during the free love decade where the main character had no problem getting any woman he wanted so solving the murder mystery became a more important challenge for him. But in modern times, free love isn’t that readily available. And the presence of email and text messaging has changed the nature of relationships by limiting face to face hook ups. As a result, Theo’s (Chris Messina) “free love” is reduced to a voyeuristic kick. Things are complicated by the fact that Theo is on the verge of getting married and already he feels the walls closing in on him.

The acting is stellar, especially in the scene where Theo’s fiancée catches him looking at pics of another girl. The ending is not as dramatic as we are led to believe. The true identity of Theo's subject is quite clear but maybe the ending was supposed to emphasize that Theo was so blinded by the little details in the photos he took that he missed the obvious bigger picture.

Top 5 in order of preference:

1) Kill the Referee
2) Ocean of an Old Man
3) Woman on Fire Looks for Water
4) Valhalla Rising
5) Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

I cannot praise Kill the Referee enough. The fact that the film is about soccer is also its biggest handicap because that would mean limited release and certainly no press coverage in North America. I have read rumours that UEFA might have had the final say on what could make the final cut but regardless of the truth, what is presented on screen is fascinating enough. The footage allows the audience to identify some of the egos, heroes and villains that operate in the game.

Monday, October 26, 2009

Nordic Spotlight

Denmark leads the pack with 3 entries followed by one each from Sweden and Finland.

The Blessing (2009, Denmark, Heidi Maria Faisst)
Original title: Velsignelsen

This impressive debut feature tackles a topic I have never seen on film -- the day to day challenges that takes place for a couple after their baby is born. Most movies only go as far as showing the child birth process and focus their energies on packing in as many jokes and incorrect information leading up to the birth (example: unlike in most movies, a woman's water breaking does not mean that the baby will be delivered right away). So it is refreshing to see a movie that realistically portrays the complications and stress that takes place from not only from feeding the baby but handling the familial relationships that surround the arrival of a newborn. The young mother shown in the film suffers from post-partum depression and her situation is complicated by the fact that she is unable to feed her baby while having a strained relationship with her own mother. The husband does not understand the wife's situation and when he is away on a business trip, she slips further into misery and depression.

The film does an excellent job in depicting things as they are without spelling anything out. For example, the words "post-partum depression" are never mentioned nor are reasons given as to why the baby is crying (unable to drink milk). Any stoppages for explanations would have ruined the film's flow and one can imagine how such a script churned through a Hollywood studio would look quite dramatic and formulaic.

The film got a jury prize at the Göteborg festival.

An interview with Heidi Maria Faisst.

Guidance (2009, Sweden, Johan Jonason)

Just when Ylva is losing hope in finding a treatment for husband’s worsening depression, a young man approaches her to offer a radical treatment to cure her husband Roy. She convinces Roy to try this new treatment in a bid not to only cure him but to save their marriage. The treatment involves Roy to break contact with the outside world and as a result he finds himself stuck in a farmhouse located in the middle of nowhere where this young therapist goes about imparting his version of holistic treatment. But as it turns out, the young man is in more need of spiritual help than Roy.

This fascinating film shares the core sentiment of Todd Hayne's Safe in poking fun at so called spiritual teachers and does so with varying shades of ironic, dry and dark humour. The Dogma 95 style treatment gives the film a realistic feel and allows the audience to draw their own conclusions of either horror or absurdity.

Little Soldier (2008, Denmark, Annette K. Olesen)
Original title: Lille soldat

This rugged film tackles many brutal issues ranging from prostitution to human trafficking to the lingering scars of war. After Lotte (Trine Dyrholm) returns to Denmark drained from her war experience, her father offers her a job as a car driver for his escort business. The escort service needs a strong driver who isn't afraid to deal with hostile clients and Lotte fits the bill perfectly. That is until, she starts to sympathize with the conditions of the women in the sex trade, especially Lily (Lorna Brown). Lotte's background as a soldier and the cold relationship with her father certainly brings a new and sobering perspective to the prostitution trade run in some European countries.

Three Wise Men (2008, Finland, Mika Kaurismäki)
Original title: Kolme viisasta miestä

Mika Kaurismäki presents an interesting portrayal of the three main character's collective misfortunes and failures. A person is expected to gain wisdom with age, so goes the saying. While the film's three males have certainly aged, they are still grappling to gain any wisdom. Through the course of the film, their characters evolve and become a bit wiser, although with some pain and tears. The film does start to run out of steam near the end but is still engaging, albeit packed with plenty of misery.

The Escape (2009, Denmark, Kathrine Windfeld)
Original title: Flugten

Quite a relevant story about Afghanistan, journalism and political decisions about refugees. The film is about a Danish journalist Rikki (Iben Hjejle, High Fidelity and The Boss of it All) who escapes from the Taliban and reaches back to Denmark where she is proclaimed a hero. A colleague suspects something and sets about to dig up the real story because he believes the saying that no one escapes from the Taliban. But the truth isn't clear cut and things get murky soon enough. The film does take plenty of short cuts in portraying the story but still there are some worthy debating points in the film, especially regarding war criminals and refugees.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Spotlight on Nordic Countries, part I

I had been meaning to do a cinematic spotlight on Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden for a while now. I didn't have any predetermined themes to explore but was hoping to watch a few films from the region and then extract some common threads. As it turns out with a majority of my cinematic spotlights, soccer formed a common unifying thread. In fact, it was solely because of soccer that I picked the first film from Finland, FC Venus.

Soccer -- ability to unite or divide

When I read the synopsis of FC Venus, I knew I had to watch the film:

Anna's love for Pete is put to the test when she finds out to her shock that Pete has ordered tickets with his teammates to the Football World Cup in Germany, putting his team first and her second.

In a fit of anger, Anna ends up making a bet with Pete: She puts together a team from the wives and girlfriends of the FC HeMan players and challenges the men to a match at the end of the summer. If the women win, the men will have to give up football. If the men win, the women will never again give the men a hard time about their hobby.


Very early on in my high school years, I discovered the struggle of dividing time between women and soccer. In fact, the first time I found out that loving soccer might be a problem was regarding the success of a Nordic nation, Denmark. Euro 1992 was something I had looked forward to for a few months. My two favourite teams were Yugoslavia and France -- I had expected Yugoslavia to prevail but was hoping from some attacking football from Platini's French team. But things didn't go as per plan. Days before the tournament was to start in Sweden, Yugoslavia was kicked out due to their war and Denmark were drafted in as replacements. The attacking French team was absent as well because Platini fielded a defensive French team that duly got knocked out. But the real story of the tournament was the attacking Danish team who thrilled and impressed most neutrals, like myself. Their 2-0 win over Germany in the final was quite unexpected. Even 24 hours after the win I was still giddy and could not stop talking about the game. After having bored friends and family about Denmark, I finally decided to talk about it with my then girlfriend. I cannot recall how I started the conversation but I remember not being able to finish my statement as she abruptly told me to shut up and not "bore her". I was taken aback by her bluntness but for some reason, I kept quiet and continued talking nonsense with her. I was quite naive back then and even though there were other signs that this girl was the wrong one for me, I continued on for a few more months before sanity finally kicked in. Since that incident, I have actively believed that one must not have to make a choice between soccer and a woman. Although I have seen friends fight and lose this battle over soccer with their significant others, many many times. So with these feelings and sentiments in mind, I tuned into FC Venus.

I honestly cannot remember the last time I shouted at the tv while watching a film but I did that multiple times during FC Venus because I thought that the main character, Pete, was making a mistake by staying with Anna. In my opinion, the two were not meant to be together but thanks to the wonders of the script, their relationship remains in tact, despite the on and off field battles they endure. The first signs of trouble appear when one morning Pete jumps out of bed to watch a soccer show where former national iconic coach, Lauri, is being interviewed. Anna wants Pete to turn the tv off immediately but Pete just thinks that maybe it has do with his watching soccer. It turns out that Lauri is Anna's father and she was often neglected by her father in pursuit of foreign coaching assignments. Also, Anna could have been a professional soccer player but she gave up playing the game because she was frustrated with the injuries and sacrifices she had to endure to fulfill her father's dream of her becoming a professional. In a way the script nicely manages to put forward plenty of issues about relationships, not only between a couple but one of expectations between a parent and their child. There are plenty of humourous incidents, including an assortment of clichéd characters, but overall I have to admit that the film makes for a light hearted enjoyable viewing.

While soccer splits a daughter from her father in FC Venus, soccer is used as a tool by a father to bridge the gap with his son in Ragnar Bragason's Children. One of the multiple stories in the well made Icelandic film involves how a father tries to win his son's approval and love by getting his son a spot in the local soccer team. The son had not known of his father’s existence because his mother kept him away from the father's gang activities. Despite the mother’s repeated warnings, the son starts to believe that his father may have changed. But when the son shows up to the soccer session and sees the coach's broken nose, he knows his father was responsible and runs away. Eventually after a series of highly charged dramatic events, the father and son are able to start fresh and are seen watching a soccer game together before the screen fades to black.

The Danish film Kick 'n Rush distills the turbulent coming of age emotions via a soccer blender. Jacob, Mikkel and Bo are good friends who play on the same soccer team and while Bo scores most of the goals and takes the glory, it is Jacob who creates the chances that Bo puts away. The team is coached by Jacob's dad who is in love with Manchester United and turns to a picture of Alex Ferguson for inspiration; in fact Jacob's dad has given a Man Utd player name for all the young soccer players on his team. Things get complicated when a girl, Mathlide, enters Jacob's life. On top of that, Jacob eventually lets his jealously of Bo get in the way of helping Bo's chances with the professional soccer scouts. The scenes where a hung-over Bo fails to convert his chances shows the pressure that can affect kids wanting to have a career in professional soccer.

And even if one makes it into professional soccer, the pressure never really lets up as shown by the opening minutes of the Icelandic film, Eleven Men Out. Despite working himself into the ground, Ottar is not thrilled that his soccer exploits are not front page news. So in order to garner attention for himself, he tells the journalist that he is gay. Well not only does that get him front page news but also gets him kicked out from the team. With no team to play for, Ottar joins an amateur team which has some gay players. But after Ottar's arrival, more gay players show up and soon opponents are forfeiting their games in order to avoid playing Ottar's team. Clichés and crude jokes are plenty in this film but my favourite joke revolves around how Ottar's team coach is able to live on the reputation that he once scored a goal to tie a European game against Arsenal while playing for Rosenborg. In reality, the Norwegian team Rosenborg did tie a home game 1-1 against Arsenal back in Sept 2004. Ofcourse, I was not laughing back then, although I was much happier when Arsenal thrashed Rosenborg 5-1 in the return game.

When work gets in the way...

Soccer is just only one thing that can get in the way of a relationship. While soccer is a hobby for most people that has certain fixed hours, a job can often result in stress for unlimited hours. In Per Fly's excellent film, The Inheritance, we see how the pressures of running a family business tear apart Christoffer and Maria. What is interesting about the film is how the action is mostly shown as events happening to Christoffer. This gives us a chance to actually draw our own conclusions such as how Christoffer is being manipulated by his mother or how he is being lied to. As we observe him go about his duties, it becomes apparent that he is just a puppet, be it to his internal emotions or external forces like his family. All of this makes for a fascinating character study!

A job is hard as it is but what if you had a boss that constantly made irrational decisions to screw you up? And what made things worse was that you never saw this boss and as a result had no place to take out your frustrations? Lars von Trier's The Boss of it All takes some of these ideas, tears a leaf out of Ricky Gervais's The Office while adding his own unique directorial style. There are plenty of ideas explored here from employee frustration to poking fun at perceived cultural differences (Denmark vs Iceland), office romances, incompetent managers throwing around buzz tech words and even appreciation of the arts. While I find some aspects interesting, there were plenty of moments which frustrated me. David Bordwell has an excellent entry on the film's style. I wish I had read this entry before I saw the film as it would have allowed me to key in on some of the unique tricks.

I will look at Norway and Sweden in part II. From the film picks, it looks like soccer won't be on the agenda for those selections.
Ratings out of 10:
FC Venus (2005, Finland, Joona Tena): 7.5
Children (2006, Iceland, Ragnar Bragason): 10
Eleven Men Out (2005, Iceland, Róbert I. Douglas): 5
Kick 'N Rush (2003, Denmark, Aage Rais-Nordentoft): 7
The Inheritance (2003, Denmark co-production, Per Fly): 9
The Boss of it All (2006, Denmark co-production, Lars von Trier): 7