Reviews

In Packing Heavy the drama unfolds slowly. We follow a group of youngsters in a minor city of Argentina. In the night the play soccer, drive home and frolic. Then they go home. We follow Tomás. He hides as he sees his mother drive away with a man. The home is very untidy, unwashed dishes are heaping in the sink. In the morning he cannot find clean clothes. Without breakfast he goes to school, where he is suspended. Too many times he didn't attend classes. Furthermore he didn't wear the school uniform. As he is free, he is loafing through the town. He rings the bell of an auntie, but doesn't stay for food. His mother is stil sleeping when he comes back. Tomás steals money and some cigarettes from her purse. He gets a new, fashionable haircut, then he is involved in a fight and runs away with his best friend Pinchón. At the river they smoke and later they try to shoot with a gun. We learn that Nenino, the man who was responsible for the death of Tomás' father, is released from jail. At the sports club there is going to be a BBQ. Tomás might want to shoot the man. Tomás is eager to learn more about his father, but everybody seems to be unwilling to talk about him. A man at the club house says, that he was the best soccer forward ever. Tomás also visits the house of his grandfather, who says that Tomás' father was involved with bad company. Maybe her was a thief also. At least - 10 minutes before the film finishes - Tomás finally has the encounter with Nenino - aiming at him with the gun. The absence of grown-ups in this film is striking. The kids are just doing what they like. Adults are not a part of their lives. They only come homw for sleeping. The kids also have their own laws and norms. Packing Heavy is for people who like to follow ordinary life situations. Although there is obviously not happening a lot, the potential drama keeps my interest alive

This is called a documentary film, but it seems to be in the mockumentary style of e.g. Ulrich Seidl. There is very little going on: someone is selling refreshments, another guy is campaigning to become mayor - probably without having a chance. The peak event of the season is a karaoke competition on August 15. Sometimes they think of the future, but not very often.

To view this film, you need a good portion of patience and a more than normal interest for ordinary people's ordinary life on a Sicilian beach, then this film is very rewarding.

I could watch this film, because the Biennale chose that a selection of films could be seen worldwide. I am relatively new to films from Arabic speaking countries. I enjoy especially those films that give insight into the life conditions in those countries. The action takes place in 2008 ("a few years after the civil war"). Samir and Amal were once politically active. Then they wanted to change the system. He is a gynecologist who makes illegal abortions. She is a teacher. They enjoy certain privileges because of their position. They are confronted with a new force, which they call religious bigotry. Their son Fahim is not so brilliant as they hope. They want him to study abroad, but he would rather hang out with his buddies and enjoy drugs and listen to music. This film is about a country in conversion. Small vignettes give at last a complete picture. One of the central questions is, if going away really is the best option for getting a better life.

This is a biopic "inspired by true events" and as such it can hardly contain spoilers. Anybody can check any dictionary and get informed about the story line. And even if you didn't check out the biography of the boxer Jørgen Hansen, the chain of events can hardly be surprising. The question is thus: why should I be interested in the life of a boxing event that occurred more than 35 years ago. Actually I don't know either. The movie seems to follow its hero with solidarity. Jørgen Hansen faces all critical situations with some sort of rural whit, which seemed to be his trademark. Right from the beginning the focus is on the age of the main character. Hansen is contrasted with an aspiring boxing champion from Uganda. Their rivalry develops into a nice friendship and in the end he helps him fight the phantoms of the past. Nice movie for lovers of sport.

I ticked the box indicating that this may contain spoilers, although I don't know whatever there could be to spoil. The scene is set in a hotel room where Mikael is rehearsing a witness statement. There is top security. (So why not let it happen in a secure place like police headquarter?) The exposition is slow, awfully slow. The script tries, unsuccessfully, to build up tension between the characters, but never manages to start a conflict or anything worthwhile or interesting. The characters remain paper-like two-dimensional without depth. it is obvious that after the lengthy introduction something has to happen. So when the action is fueled by a bang, we are not really surprised, but rather happy that the film has finally ended.

This is a film about the divided Berlin before the infamous wall was built. Young people from the east could easily go to the west to have fun and hang out with people from the west. So they do in this film and thus the romance starts. There is surprisingly little blatant propaganda. People in the west are portrayed like people. In the beginning there is a minor conflict with a salesman. He accepts easily the eastern money, but cannot give back the correct change. This probably reflects the wishful thinking of the east that their money had equal worth. So Uschi from the east falls in love with Hans from the west. At a point, she considers moving to the west because of better opportunities there, including a more modern life while in the east there is nothing but work. This is contrasted by a group of young men without work. They complain equally about the lack of opportunities. One even wants to emigrate to Australia. An off-screen voice narrates at some point that the west indeed does not have so many chances as is claimed by "certain newspapers". Uschi's parents do not like the idea that her daughter has a boyfriend in the west and ground her. Her reaction seems prophetic: "You may as well lock me up completely". That's what the authorities in GDR did 5 years later. Similar prophetic is the reaction to western youngsters to having a girlfriend in the east: "It's no use. At some point you might not be able to get over there." Today we can see this as a kind of foreshadowing. Uschi is living with her parents in the east. Their flat is bigger than the one Hans shares with his mother (there is no father) in West Berlin. Uschi's parents have the opinion that "you need to know where you belong to". Uschi has no doubt about that, so at last her parents accept to meet her daughter's boyfriend. This film wasn't very successful with those in charge of propaganda,as it is about real people. The east is not necessarily the worker's paradise and the west is not shown as a caricature either. Young people who try to find their way in life, beyond politics and ideologies. That's why it's still fascinating to watch it today. It is more like a field study of young people's dreams and aspirations and such it is timeless

This film asks serious questions, but it seems that it hardly scratches the surface for answering them. The main plot is a courtroom drama. Frederik is accused of fraud, but it turns out that he has a brain tumor that might have changed his personality, so that he possibly wasn't aware of doing something wrong. If he in legal terms was insane, he cannot be declared guilty. But is it so simple? It turns out that some changes that he tumor might have cause were present before the tumor grew in his brain. This interesting part of the story-line is however not sufficiently developed.

Another subplot is the crumbling marriage between Frederik and his wife Mia. The tumor has, so it seems, made Frederik more aggressive, also in bed. Mia therefore seeks comfort with his husband's lawyer. Or does she? We learn at quite late that Mia is an unreliable narrator. This could serve the point that individual experiences and memories form our perception. But it turns out that the narrator is not only unreliable, but quite nuts. This could at best illustrate a point how the brain works.

Indeed, essential issues of brain research and relevant philosophical implications are mentioned, as if the plot was a drama-documentary from Learning Network. But letting the narrator paraphrase these tendencies in brain research almost kills the point of the film. We get the impression that we are witnessing a lecture of a mad scientist. This was probably not the intention of the director.

I liked much of this film, but altogether it was an unconvincing attempt. Maybe the script is too close to the novel.

Watchers of Danish movies from abroad, who are fairly acquainted with Danish geography must get the impression that Jutland is predominantly populated by hillbillies. Some examples: The Art of Crying (Peter Schønau Fog, 2006) with a psychopathic pedophile father. Terribly Happy (Henrik Ruben Genz,2008) where Jutland is like a zone where people are almost departed to, of course with its own rules that are only loosely connected to the common set of rules in the rest of the country.Bornedal also used this cliché of inbreeding xenophobes in his own Deliver Us From Evil (2009). In his latest effort to make a film, Bornedal point of departure is not any similarity with any resemblance of reality. There are 2-D caricatures. The fat man with tight clothes - very funny, ha-ha. His colleague who is sexually starving man with the too bushy eyebrows and an empty staring.He talks to the buttocks of his wife, but hardly to its owner. The Desperate Housewives - constantly wasted and enjoying the company of the Swedish salsa teacher - who is (for the women so near and so distant) gay. There are not many other people in Nibe. Why should there be people in the street? Bornedal is not interested in people, but only in travesties. Like the spastic waiter in the local restaurant, who talks "funnily". So Ib and Edward decide to boost their sex lives, not by taking mistresses, but by getting rid of their wives. It seems that you get easily access to the Dark Net in Nibe, as they have no problem to hire a hit-man from Russia. Surprisingly Edward is acquainted with this term. Of course they try to chicken out, but the Russian hit-man is not so easy to get rid of. The main problem is that he needs to be sober in order to travel back to his native Russia. Of course being Russian the hit-man is constantly on booze, when not killing unhappy people. We get a hint that he was in Afghanistan, but as it is the norm in this film, Bornedal is not interested in his persons. At least he tries to be politically incorrect when the Russian killer and an Afghani taxi driver, an admirer of Bin Laden, meet. - When Gritt and Ingrid figure out that they are the target of a killer, they hire a killer of their own, British Miss Nippleworthy (ha-ha!). Being a woman, she works, of course, wit poison. Any smiles until now? Is this hilarious? Not at all. Far-fetched at best. However, this misery has to end at some point. We have filled up the pot of clichés, now we just need to glue a happy ending to it. Is it credible? Why would Bornedal care? This concoction was like an adult version of Danish "family films" (Far til fire ...; The Crumbs - ... My Sister's Kids...). Although the persons in these films have more depth than the characters in Small-Town Killers, you will find there also more types than persons in these unambitious family movies. Thia movie has until now harvested universally unfavorable reviews. It seems that Bornedal is getting more and more an overrated director, as his good features have become distant history already.

The first feature film by director Mikkel Munch-Fals had in Danish the title "Beautiful People". This one could have the title "Boring People". A bunch of middle-aged couples who have nothing but memories of not realized dreams pretend to escape from their daily routines by taking refuge in a swinger club. Here they think they are stripped from conventions. However, even their hanky-panky follows predefined rules which tell them when and where to feel liberated. One weekend a young couple arrives and thus the usual rules of the play are challenged. This challenge can prompt different reactions. One of the men thinks he needs to show off as stallion, another one believes that he has fallen in love and starts dreaming immediately about undigging his buried youthful dreams. (The script is mainly interested in the sexuality of the male protagonists. The women are shaggable garnish, maybe also part-time lesbians.) This could lead to tragic, dramatic, comic or even ironic situation. The script focuses almost exclusively on embarrassing aspects. There is a tendency in Danish cinema, especially when it is intended for the home market, to understand the vulgar as border-crossing. Especially the Klown series is notorious in exploring how disgusting they can be and still be loved by the audience. Munch-Fals follows this track. This is intended as funny. Yes, this film was labeled as comedy, but when I saw it, nobody in the audience laughed even once. There are some good performances in this film, but even they cannot make this film and its cliché-stuffed script memorable.