The Commune.

Thomas Vinterberg latest cinema release The Commune (2016) is set in Copenhagen in the mid 1970’s where we discover that Erik, a teacher of ‘rational architect’, has inherited a large manor house that belonged to his father. Eric financial circumstances will not allow for its upkeep and he thinks its best if he sell’s the house, but his wife Anna, a popular TV newscaster and his teenage daughter Freja want to keep it. Anna convinces Eric to set up the huge property as a commune and share the upkeep between the occupants. Invitations are issued and interviews take place. At first it all works out very amicably with every one getting on well, taking part in the many kitchen table meetings, the dinners and the parties. That is until Eric falls for one of his female students and moves her into the commune. At first Anna accepts the fact that her husband no longer wishes to sleep with her but is happy for Emma to stay at the commune. But this utopia doesn’t continue and the repercussions from Eric’s actions affect everyone.  

 

The kitchen table meetings.

Based on a play called Kollektivet written by Vinterberg and Mogens Rukov, which was inspired by the directors own childhood experiences. It’s a ‘family’ drama with a difference, emotionally moving but at times very funny, the film has a star cast that portray exceptionally well this touching portrait of a generation of idealists who have never quite fulfilled their dreams. 

 

Will Anna except the new comer?

Emma gets to know Erik. 

The Danish director and Dogme 95 co-founder is best known for the brilliant Festen (1998) another family drama, this time involving a family gathering to celebrate their fathers 60^th birthday during which long buried secrets resurface, and The Hunt (2012) which stars Mads Mikkelsen as a teacher whose accused of sexually abusing a young child in his care. Erik is played by Ulrich Thomsen, who has appeared in some remarkable World Cinema outings including Festen, Brodre (2004), the award winning In a Better World (2010) the German thriller The Silence (2010) and the Danish police procedural A Second Chance (2014). The Danish actress and singer Trine Dyrholm plays Anna who was also in Festen and In a Better World as well as the historical drama A Royal Affair (2012). It also features Vinterberg’s wife Helene Reingaard Neurmann as Emma, along with Lebanon born Fares Fares and Danish TV and film actor Lars Ranthe as members of the commune.

The Salvation.

Now here’s a mouth-watering proposition: a Danish western directed and co-written by Kristian Levring, who was the fourth signatory of the Dogma95 movement, made by the Danish film company Zentropa Entertainments which was started by director Lars von Trier and producer Peter Aalbaek Jensen and which was responsible for over 70 feature films including The Hunt (2013) A Royal Affair (2013) In A Better Word (2010) Donkeys (2010) and most of Lars von Triers output. It gets even more lip smacking when you read the cast list.

 

The Husband Jon (Mads Mikkelson)

Out of the wreckage of the Danish defeat in the war of 1864 Jon (Mads Mikkelson) and his brother Peter (Mikael Persbrandt) crossed the Atlantic to forge a new future for themselves. For seven years they struggled to get a foothold in an unfamiliar land, seven years in which Jon longed for his wife Marie and their son. Seven years is a long time for any family to be apart. The year is 1871 and the country is America. 

Brother Peter (Mikael Persbrant)

The movie starts with Jon and Peter meeting the train carrying Marie and his ten-year-old son.  Peter stays in town while Jon and his family board a stagecoach that will take them to their new home on the outskirts of Black Creek. It’s when two recently released criminals board the coach that a nightmare begins that can only end in violence and death.   

Notorious Gang Leader Henry De La Rue (Jeffery Dean Morgan) 

Black Creek is run by Mayor Keane (Jonathan Pryce) who is in cahoots with an ex Injun fighter and notorious gang leader Henry De La Rue (a menacing Jeffery Dean Morgan) to buy up all the land surrounding the town. Also involved in these underhand goings on are the ineffective town Sheriff (played by Scottish actor Douglas Henshall recently seen in series one of Outlander) and De La Rue’s sister in law Madeline who was rescued from the Injuns minus her tongue (a totally delicious and smouldering Eva Green who is absolutely brilliant despite not having a line of dialogue to say)

 

Sister in Law Madeline (Eva Green)

Beautifully shot in South Africa by Jens Schlosser, this is homage to the classic western style made famous by Sergio Leone cross-fertilised with Fred Zinnermann’s High Noon (1952). A feature film so obviously made and acted with such great enthusiasm that’s its familiar format can be forgiven. Its traditionally authentic feel will keep you gripped, a Scandinavian movie experience not to be missed.

A Second Chance (En chance till).

Susanne Bier is a Danish filmmaker; born in Copenhagen in 1960 the 55 year old is best known in the UK for two award-winning movies After the Wedding (2006) and In A Better World (2010). Currently her work can be sampled on BBC TV on a Sunday night, as she is responsible for directing the miniseries The Night Manager that is based on the novel of the same name by John Le Carre and stars Tom Hiddleston, Olivia Coleman, Hugh Laurie and Tom Hollander. Her last feature film released in March 2015 is another Danish language movie A Second Chance (En chance till) (2014).

 

Happy families.....

....not quite!

Detectives Andreas (Nikolay Coster-Waldau) and Simon (Ulrich Thomsen) are the best of friends but lead vastly different lives; Andreas has settled down with his beautiful wife and son; while Simon, recently divorced, spends most of his off duty waking hours getting drunk at the local strip club. But things change when the partners are called out to deal with a domestic dispute that involves a criminal out on parole and the mother of his baby son. Both Tristan (Nikolay Lie Kaas) and Sanne (ex model Lykke May Anderson) are junkies and as witnessed by the state of their baby covered in excrement are not loving and caring parents. When Social Services refuse to take the baby away and a family tragedy strikes Andreas it forces the normally upstanding policeman to commit an act that that he will live to regret.

 

Two Detectives that lead vastly different live's - that is until.... 

This moving thriller with a difference about ordinary people is made quite believable by the skill of the director and the acting from her well-known cast. Although Anders Thomas Jensen script is a little predictable at first it soon gathers pace developing into a great story that, without given anything away, has a grand twist. I would certainly recommend this movie to those of you that love a gritty Scandinavian drama and will not be put off by a heart-rending story.  

After The Wedding.

Having already enjoyed two films directed by Danish born film director Susanne Bier, the first was Brothers (2004) and the second was the Academy Award winning In a Better World (2010) which starred the Swedish actor Mikael Persbrandt who can presently be seen in the BBC4 series Beck, I was looking forward to seeing her 2006 movie After the Wedding and was not to be disappointed as the director had certainly maintained her normal extraordinary high standard.

 

A man with a past .

A man with a hidden agenda .

Jacob Petersen heads an Indian based orphanage and his work helps to save many vulnerable young street children. An honourable man but a loner who because of his chosen career is compelled to forgo mature relationships, but a man with a past but one that would appear to be happy with his situation. When the orphanage is threatened by closure, he receives an unusual offer. A Danish businessman, Jørgen Lennart Hansson, offers him a donation of $4 million dollars. There are, however, certain conditions and Jørgen’s motives are not what they seem. Not only must Jacob return to Denmark, he must also attend the wedding of Jørgen's daughter. The wedding proves to be a critical juncture between past and future and catapults Jacob into the most intense dilemma of his life. Family secrets will be revealed along with Jørgen’s well intentioned hidden agenda, but does it give Jørgen Hansson the right to control other people's lives even those close to him and will it be morally justifiable and does the end result justify the means?

 

A beautiful woman caught in a triangle of passion.

The sensitive daughter.

Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, only loosing out to the German movie The Lives of Others (2006), After The Wedding is chock fall of believable characters that are beautifully portrayed by all four lead actors.  For example a sensitive portrayal of the daughter by Stine Fischer Christensen, Mads Mikkelson’s melancholy depiction of the troubled and intense Jacob, Rolf Lassgard powerful interpretation of the rich businessman and Sidse Babett Knudson as Helene Hansson torn between Jørgen her husband and a previous relationship. All four, as well as the supporting actors, display the essence of natural acting, proving that it is the key to the great performances in this film and also proves how important casting was for the portrayal of Anders Thomas Jensen’s screenplay. Screen International described it as not only a powerful compelling drama but complex and gripping. Emotional, but never melodramatic it underlines the difference between the poverty of India and privilege of Jørgen and his family. I would sincerely recommend that lovers of a well told, brilliantly acted, superbly directed drama should not miss a chance to see this movie. 

The Keeper of Lost Causes (Kvinden I buret).

Danish author Jussi Adler-Olsen has successfully written six novels in the Department Q series. The first two have been adapted into feature films the second of which Fassandraeberne (The Absent One) 2014 does not seem to have a UK release date as yet, the third film A Conspiracy of Faith is being filmed at present and is due for release in 2016. But the first of the series, based on the novel Mercy adapted for the screen by Nikolj Arcel, was released in August 2014 to very little fanfare and not very much critical acclaim although it was the top selling film in Denmark for seven weeks. Kvinden I buret or to give it its English title The Keeper of Lost Causes (2013) is directed by Mikkel Norgaard who is possibly best known for directing four episodes of the award winning Danish political TV series Borgen.  

This crime thriller has the standard Scandinavian cop. A pill popping heavy drinking maverick, a misanthrope who falls foul of the police authority when he jumps the gun and enters a suspect’s property without proper backup. In the shootout that follows it is not only Inspector Carl Morck that’s badly wounded but his two partners are respectively dead and paralysed. On his return to work after a long convalescence the Inspector is demoted and assigned to a basement office to head up Department Q, which has been set up to look into ‘cold cases’.  

 

Just the beginning of Carl Morck's problems.

The department consists of himself and his new assistant Assad. Although their brief is only too read and sort through the cases, its not long before Morck stubborn nature throws them headfirst into the mystery of Merete Lynggaard's disappearance; a beautiful female politician who vanished five years ago from a passenger ferry, the only witness her brain-damaged brother who was found on the car deck, screaming at the top of his voice. The case was considered to be an apparent suicide. Unconvinced by this explanation the inspector and his assistant set out to disprove this theory.

 

Merete Lynggaard and her brother. 

Department Q - Cold Case Review 

As I have already said this movie did not get very good reviews outside of Denmark and I would concur that it’s probable more suited to a TV series where the main characters could be flushed out more, but it is still a good police procedural with plenty of excitement and a steady build up of tension leading to a thrilling conclusion. The two main characters make a good team with Nikolaj Lie Kaas as Carl Morck who played Mathies Borch in the third series of the award winning TV drama The Killing, Assad is played by Fares Fares who you may have seen in Easy Money 2: Hard to Kill and the American movie Zero Dark Thirty both released in 2012.  Both these actors repeat their roles in the two sequels.