FAILED SCANDINAVIAN NOIR

Desolation, brutality, dark humor. Basic ingredients of every successful Scandinavian noir thriller, when skillfully mixed together.

„In the order of disappearance” has all the above mentioned, but not in the right amount and scale. Brutal crime is there, motif of father’s (Stellan Skarsgard) revenge as well. Humor is where the script tends to deviate into banality, only to totally collapse after the appearance of the Serbian mobsters led by Bruno Ganz and Sergej Trifunović.

From then on and all the way to the tragicomic finale, „In the order of disappearance” is just begging you to „disappear it” from your hard drive/player due to its shallow and caricature unfolding and acting.

Heavy failure, despite the great atmosphere of desolated Norwegian snowy landscape.

IN THE ORDER OF DISSAPEARANCE - 3/10

HEAVY, HEAVIER, DANISH

Danish cinematography has developed its oustanding reputation by directing some of the most intriguing dramas based on family relations. Unthinkable plots and developments between the members of the basic social unit shocked and awed the audiences worldwide while simultaneously promoting the Scandinavian behavioral norms via silver screen.

Downside of this is the heaviness of subject itself. And what can be heavier than the story of a child traumatized by the horrible loss of life? Two brothers (Gustav Fischer Kjerulff and Sebastian Bull Sarning) have each taken the toll differently, but with same devastating effects. Drama tends grow even heavier when the next generation is included in the consequences of the tragic event. Overall atmosphere is pretty grim, but partial happy end tends to downsize the heavy toll.

„Submarino” is a heavy drama with a big „D” and a brutal depiction of how much we are(n’t) actually formed by events and actions of our childhood.

SUBMARINO - 8/10

MOVIE=SERIES

FOTO: nordiskfilm.dk

Danish noir was born on TV and seamlessly overflowed on the big screen. When it comes to the second part of the franchise started with ”Keeper of lost cases”, difference between series and movies is really, really blurred.

Action continues with another bizarre crime from the dark past, slowly developing as the script unfolds the horrifying truth. Detectives form the backbone of the cast (Nikolaj Lie Kass and Fares Fares), but the main role here is the case itself.

This one is particularly gruesome, but nothing more than that. At some point it also tends to get a bit confusing, but succeeds in creating a brutal ending.

To summarize, „The absent one” offers decent amount of adrenalin, but nothing more that.

FASANDRAEBERNE – 4/10

REMAKE WAS BETTER

FOTO: outnow.ch

Susanne Bier is one of the greatest European directors/screenwriters and her flick ”Brothers” had all the ingredients for a great drama. Plot about the wife that falls in love for the brother of a husband pronounced dead in Afghanistan is very interesting, but the acting and the development fall short of the expected.

Casting is superb in theory (Connie Nielsen, Nikolaj Lie Kass, Ulrich Thomssen), but actors are somehow tampered by partially predictable lines of the script as well as some weak motivations along the way.

This is one of the rare opportunities that the American remake (”Brothers” with Jake Gyllenhaal, Natalie Portman and Tobey Maguire) had succeeded in surpassing the European original.

BRODRE – 5/10

CLASSIC DOGMA

FOTO: magnoliaforever

Lars von Trier as a director is unwatchable, but his ”Dogma 95” movement gave us some really interesting Danish flicks. Those movies may not be good in a classical manner, but they sure aren’t boring.

Story about an unorthodox birthday celebration is a classical „dogmatic” indie motion picture. Camera is shaking all the way through, lighting is natural and overall resources are low budgetary. All the significant Danish actors/actresses of the past decade are there and they are have decent roles.

Story has a superb idea, but somehow manages to wander off during the course of action. This is surely also due to social norms of the Scandinavian countries that tend to differ significantly from the rest of Europe and USA.

„Bizarre” is the word for this one, but maybe just a bit too much.

FESTEN – 5/10

IT SHOULD END HERE

FOTO: heyguys.com

When it has first hit the theatres in 2008, Luc Besson’s ”Taken” became an instant hit, reviving the weary career of Liam Neeson, as well as the entire action genre. The recipe was simple: short introduction, hour-or-so of killing-pace action and a brief exit. Fight scenes were short, but explosive, with little or no special effects.

Unfortunately, both sequels had nothing in common with the first part of the franchise. ”Taken 2” was incredibly boring for an action flick, while the third one tried to sort things out, bringing the story to the home soil of USA.

And that was everything that ”Taken 3” succeeded in bringing back. Huge budget, star cast (Whitaker) and spectacular CGI managed to deliver only another one of those predictable US action movies with no innovations and memorable moments to retell with your friends after the lights in the cinema went on.

The secret ingredient of the first ”Taken” formula is definitely lost. To be quite honest, they should have stopped after the first one. But they didn’t, and it’s a shame. Now, all that’s left is to hope that the movie slogan: ”It ends here” will prove to be true. Otherwise, they may make another one, with Liam saving his grandchild. And that would a complete disaster.

TAKEN 3 – 3/10