norway

The Danish Poet

Tonight’s programme consisted of award-winning shorts released in 2006, and just watching them one after another led me to a few conclusions about short films in general. To compare them to written works, they’re a bit like poems to a feature film’s novel. And to compare to spoken word, they’re like jokes as opposed to sagas. With such a short amount of time, they need to make their points quickly, so there is often a high “cleverness” factor and the endings often feel like the punch line of a joke. This can work well, but a film that stands out is one that doesn’t make these tropes so obvious. Here, in my order of enjoyment, are tonight’s selections:

• The Danish Poet (Canada/Norway, 2006): With lovely narration from Liv Ullmann, this story felt the most organic and the least gimmicky. Even though there is a sort of punchline “payoff” at the end, it’s telegraphed early enough to set us down gently. The whimsical animation style and always-great use of animated (but non-speaking) animals made this a worthy Oscar-winner this year. Check out the film’s web site. (9/10)
• Dreams and Desires - Family Ties (UK, 2006): Another animated short, this one cleverly used animated sketches to simulate a wedding video filmed by the oddly cinephilic Beryl, a large woman of grandmotherly vintage. Her attempts to film the disastrous occasion in the styles of famous directors from Eistenstein to Riefenstahl, all the while keeping up a steady stream-of-consciousness narration, keeps this one rollicking along, despite the nearly impenetrable accents. (9/10)
• Tanghi Argentini (Belgium, 2006): This is a charming tale of an office drone who just might be an angel. André needs to learn to tango in two weeks so he can meet his Internet crush, so he turns to his colleague Frans to help teach him to dance. Will love bloom? (8/10)
• Contact (Raak) (Netherlands, 2006): Three characters paths cross again and again in this cleverly-edited short. There’s that word “clever” again. (7/10)
• The Substitute (Il Supplente) (Italy, 2006): A class of high-school students is terrorized by a Scott Thompson (ex-Kids in the Hall) lookalike, who then gets his comeuppance. Funny in an odd sort of way. (7/10)
• Make A Wish (Atmenah) (USA, 2006): A straightforward, almost documentary-like tale of a young girl who will go to any lengths to get a special birthday cake. Only it’s set in the West Bank. The filmmaking is pretty rudimentary and there’s a bit of a (tragic) punchline at the end. (6/10)
• Imagine This (Australia/Ireland, 2006): Sometimes a short should also be a “small.” Using found internet footage to make George W. Bush “sing” John Lennon’s “Imagine” was a pretty funny idea. But it really shouldn’t have made it off the YouTube site. (5/10)

The Bothersome Man (Den Brysomme mannen) (Director: Jens Lien, Norway/Iceland, 2006): “Forty-year-old Andreas arrives in a strange city with no memory of how he got there. He is presented with a job, an apartment – even a wife. But before long, Andreas notices that something is wrong. He makes an attempt to escape the city, but he discovers there is no way out.” I remember reading this synopsis in the programme guide at TIFF last year and wanting to see this film. Now, thanks to the folks at Film Movement, I can. Well, technically, I can’t, since Film Movement doesn’t offer subscriptions to Canadians, but they were nice enough to send me some films to review, and I’d encourage any of our American readers to check them out if you haven’t already. A new indie or foreign film every month for less than the price of two cinema tickets. Now, on to the film:

I’ve always been a fan of Nordic humour; dry and deadpan, as in the films of Aki Kaurismäki. Lien’s film is that, with a touch of Kafka thrown in. You see, Andreas arrives in the strange city after throwing himself in front of a subway train, and this extremely pleasant afterlife turns out to be hell, after all. Food is tasteless, there are no children, and everyone seems obsessed with decorating and furniture. Even sex is boring, though it seems easily available. In fact, everyone seems to go out of their way to make sure Andreas is happy. Only, he’s not. For all the polite kindness he finds, it seems that Andreas can’t find love. There is no real connection between anyone in this nether world. No conflict, granted, but no passion at all. All talk is small talk.

The only glimmer of hope comes when he discovers a crack in the wall of a new acquaintance’s apartment. Through the crack they hear music, and can smell wonderful scents. Is this a way back to the world of the living?

The clever thing about the film is that seen in a certain way, it could very well be a commentary on the real world, especially the Western world of banal social pleasantries and mindless consumerism, and in particular, the well-meaning socialist welfare states of Scandinavia. It’s a safe world (one unforgettable scene has Andreas trying to repeat his subway suicide, to no effect), but one without vitality.

Lien has carefully wrapped his sharp social criticism in a witty and at times absurd film that is equal parts horror and science fiction. Forget 28 Weeks Later. These are the scarier zombies.

Note: Film Movement featured this film as their Year 5 Film 3.

Official site for the film

(8/10)

Elling (Norway, 2001, Petter Næss, director) has me grasping for words and coming up with lame stuff like “triumph” and “joy” and other stuff from the movie ads. Nevertheless, it’s amazing. Two mental patients are released to live semi-independently together in their own apartment. It’s like the Odd Couple in a halfway house, with note-perfect performances from the two leads, especially Per Christian Ellefsen as the title character. This turned around my icky mood from the earlier film with some to spare for tomorrow! Needless to say, it’s a 10/10!!