Efter bryllyppet / After the Wedding

Director: Susanne Bier
Cast: Mads Mikkelson, Sidse Babett Knudgen, Rolf Lassbard, Stine Fischer Christensen
Language: Danish and English
Location: India and Denmark
comments in italics by charlie.

I should forewarn you that I have a habit of revealing too much about a movie to a person that hasn't seen it. So please excuse a girl her tendency to get carried away, and her first attempt at reviewing a movie for an audience, however unknown her audience might be.

Danish movie 'After the Wedding' is another example of great movies coming out of the small, cold country that now houses our new favourite royal family, and yet another example of how European films just seem to portray emotional situations ten times better than anything Hollywood creates. It has somehow had an effect that no other film has had on me, a feeling of being raw. It challenges the way emotions are felt, and how we should react to them in a movie clearly about how to do the right thing by the ones you love.

Actor Mads Mikkelson, best known by English speaking audiences for his role as Le Chiffre in the latest Bond installment, has matched up again with director Susanne Bier (they previously worked together on 'Elsker dig for evigt') to play Jacob, a man who is dedicated to bringing aid to those people suffering over the other side of the world, but not exactly successful at doing so. His orphanage in India is going under despite his best intentions, and when he is offered a donation from Danish businessman Jorgen (Rolf Lassgard), it seems perfect timing. There is one condition however, he must return to Denmark to 'shake the hand' of the mouth that is about to feed him. The prospect clearly disgusts Jacob, but he leaves his little orphanage and his favourite orphan boy with the clear decision to be returning in eight days.
While in Denmark, he is offered a seat at the wedding of Jorgen's daughter, Anna, played by Stine Fischer Christensen. After the toasts it is clear that Jacob's reality has shifted far from his sheltered life in India.

I won't spoil what happens after the wedding, as this story is crafted to reveal itself slowly and I fear I may have already revealed too much despite my best intentions!

From the beginning of this film it is clear why the director has chosen to work with Mikkelson again. Mikkelson's controlled acting style suits his character perfectly, and works well with the close perspectives employed by the director. Rolf Lassgard however seemed awkward at times. The script develops his character well, and the scenes with his wife Helene, played by Sidse Babett Knudgen, are almost flawless. His solo takes however seem too obvious at trying to tell us something more, as if he is pushing himself to act instead of acting. This might be the direction, but either way I found it frustrating.

I thought Rolf Lassgard performed his solo scenes perfectly! They were a highlight for me and I found him at least as intriguing if not moreso than the lead. The way the camera follows him around so we are always just a pace behind but experiencing and observing an apparently usual day in the life of a 'great man', I found myself excited to look for clues as to what goes on in such a mind.

The two women leads are beautiful, in both senses. Helene is perfectly cast, seemlessly carrying her character into its different roles throughout the film. It is almost as if she holds the emotional heart of this film as she is the only one that seems to portray her emotions on the surface. Stine Fischer Christensen seemed too immature for the role of Anna, but this may be the character rubbing off on my interpretation, for in reflection, her character seems flawless.

The role of Anna is rather underdeveloped. I suspect there are other scenes, or at least lines with her that have been left on the cutting room floor, for there were a couple of places which gave the impression they would lead onto more detail about the girl later - but were left unresolved.

The direction is difficult to understand. Susanne Bier uses hand-held for many shots, which I usually find frustrating. However, it seemed to enhance the emotion of the scenes and made the very controlled performances of Mikkelson and Lassgard stronger. She also showed the contrast between India and Denmark, though how to describe how she did it is at a loss to me. At other times though she used shots that seemed so blatant an attempt at showing symbolism or giving us a message it spoiled the plot's slow unfurling of the heart of the story. I can only conclude that her filming of the characters was perfect for this film, while her extra shots were too blatant. I am curious to see how what I believe is her first English speaking movie, 'Things We Lost in the Fire', will turn out.

Agreed that the symbolism shots became too blatant. You know how home movies can somehow seem less real than professional films, for all that they are raw footage? That seemed to me what was imitated for the India scenes, and it didn't bother me until the end, during the return to India. There it was terrible! In those final scenes between Jacob and the Indian boy I could not connect with the characters at all. I was extremely aware I was watching two actors who had been told to 'sit here', 'kneel there', do this then that. It was embarrassing.

This movie was interesting to watch for the performances and techniques it tried out and interesting to talk about afterwards for the topics and situations it brings up - would this have happened in real life? What would you have done being in such a characters situation?

I recommend that this movie is watched once only, because anything else would ruin the emotional impact.

**After note: Congratulations are in order as Efter bryllyppet has been nominated for best foreign language film in this year's Oscars.**

Triple J's Hottest 100 2006 Top Ten - Ringtones.

http://abc.mercurymobility.com.au/j3/hottest100_2006/ringtones.asp

I only listened to the top ten (ringtone versions). Actually make that nine - Gotye doesn't seem to be working.

Award for Song That Sounds Most Like Its Ringtone Version:
The Killers - When We Were Young

Award for Ringtone That Is Interesting Enough I'd Actually Use It:
Muse - Starlight


Enlightening, huh?

C.R.A.Z.Y.

Director: Jean-Marc Vallée
(in French-Canadian with English subtitles)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0401085/

This is a great film. It is vivid, well structured, has brilliant performances, there's laughter, tears, and even miracles. All the relationships between characters are superbly done. Some of the actors are even good looking.

If only my friend hadn't gone to the toilet. When she came back and asked me to summarise what she'd missed, I found all I could say was "His father thinks he's gay, he thinks he's not gay, he thinks he's gay, his father thinks he's not.." If wasn't for the persistent focus on this issue as a driving force of the story and also the reinforcement of some stereotypical views of being gay (all gay boys dress in their mothers clothes?) this would be a perfect film.

But besides that. There are many instant-classic scenes. The one with the parents talking in the bathroom is certainly the most 'laugh out loud' worthy I'd seen all year. I was happy to see the inclusion of the final scene between Zac and his best friend, a lesser movie wouldn't have had it. When the mother is on the phone and the father is listening to a record. Small touches like these make films. If you want to understand what I mean, see it.

And yes, it does have a great soundtrack.

The Valet

La Doublure
Director: Francis Veber
(in French with English subtitles)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0449851/

You know how French romantic comedies have charming quirks which elevate them above Hollywood fluff? This is a French romantic comedy without the quirk.

Riding Alone For Thousands Of Miles

Quian Li Zou Dan Qi
Director: Zhang Yimou
(in Japanese and Mandarin with English subtitles)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0437447/

I tend to not go in for films 'based on the true story' because real life is boring, isn't it? And because of that, so many 'botts' films try to dress their stories up in oversized suits of movie-realism. This beautiful film knows better.
We follow Takada-san, an aging Japanese man who travels to China to film folk-opera singer Li Jianmin. It is his attempt to reconnect with his estranged filmmaker son whose project it was - the son is now ill and cannot complete it. (It's not as complicated as that sounds.) But Li also has his own disconnected son on his mind..

Visually, Takada emotions are highly suppressed - the occasional voice overs from the future Takada telling us what he is thinking or feeling are very welcome. Li is the opposite - easily showing his feelings. Whether this is supposed to reflect a generalisation that Japanese people are more repressed than Chinese or is just a contrast between the two fathers it is hard for me to know. There are many moments during the film where I found myself questioning how I was supposed to interpret a scene - was what was happening as strange to the foreign Takada as it was to me or were my own cultural differences preventing me from understanding? Bits of both I think. Being unable to easily read Takada-san's emotions leaves room for ambiguity at moments, when you don't know what he is going to decide to do.
Scenes showing the rural Chinese country-side are often breathtaking, and do well in illustrating how alone Takada is in this country where he doesn't understand the language. Yet the people are generous and of good humour. There are plenty of opportunities to laugh when the humour transcends not only the Japanese-Chinese cultures but also Australian/English.

There is quite a bit of the phenomenon of mobile phone acting called for in this film, especially with Takada-san's daughter. I found her unconvincing, but can't be sure if I shouldn't allow for cultural differences again or awkwardness of translation to english or just that mobile phones are making us more stilted in expressing emotions! There are also a couple (only a couple) of moments where the picture quality isn't up to scratch - I'd be interested to know if some of it was shot in a studio, or altered post-production. But these are minor points.

Altogether there is a touching naivity to this film that lends it charm. I might even watch some of Zhang Yimou's more commercial films now..