Change Your Image
ticko07
Reviews
Äideistä parhain (2005)
Film review
The film Mother of Mine was a very emotional film about a young boy named Eero who is forced to leave Finland and travel to Sweden where he lives with a foster family until the war was over. This film incorporated a common Nordic film theme of a love triangle, however, this time it was between two mothers and Eero. Personally, I thought the director, Klaus Haro, did an amazing job of utilizing certain filming techniques in order to make some of the heartbreaking scenes feel much more dramatic. I also thought that the plot was excellent and kept the viewer guessing as to what Eero would have in store for him in every coming day.
This movie takes place during World War II where thousands of Finnish children were evacuated from Finland to Sweden in attempt to avoid the bombing and raids. Kirsti and Eero have to deal with the unfortunate news of her husband and his father dying in battle, which Kirsti does not cope with all too well. Kirsti then decides that after losing her husband that she could not deal with losing her son as well so she decides to send him off to a foster family in Finland. After finally arriving at his foster home in Sweden, he is not accepted right away at all by Signe due to the fact that she was expecting a young girl. Throughout the movie, we begin to see emotional connections being made between Eero and Hjalmar, Signe's husband, which leads to the eventual bonding between Signe and Eero as well. As the movie progresses, Signe begins to accept Eero as one of her own and even refers to him as her child. This occurs right after Signe reveals to Eero that she had a 6 year old daughter who drowned to death two years prior to him coming to their house. As viewers we now watch a strong relationship develop between the Jonsson's and Eero, which makes us become emotional as we anticipate a letter coming in the mail from Kirsti requesting the return of Eero back to Finland. In the end, Eero is forced to leave the Jonsson's and travel back to Sweden and meet up with his mother, which was very painful for Eero as he had developed a strong relationship with the Jonsson's. The final scene of the movie ends with Eero as an adult who visits the grave of Signe because he never had the guts to leave Kirsti again and see Signe of whom he loved so much.
As a viewer, I found this film to be very emotional and frustrating to watch because Eero never really had a chance to settle down and find his true family. Its one thing to have to leave your own country and travel to another of which you cant speak the language, but to have to leave your mom behind, or in this case your last family member, would make the experience much more difficult. On top of that he then had to learn Swedish and cope with a foster mother who at the beginning of their relationship was extremely bitter and harsh towards him. Once he began to get to know the family, he then had to try and fit in at school and learn how to help out at the farm, all while receiving letters from his mother saying that it would be longer until he could come back. What made me cry is when he found out his mom left him for a German soldier, which led him to become fully attached to the Jonsson family, which ended up hurting him as he received a letter later on saying that his mom separated from the soldier and demanded he be sent back to Finland. Between the confusion and unsettledness of Eero, we the viewers become very sad for Eero as we watched his heart being broken several times throughout the movie.
As far as how the movie was shot, I felt that the slow motion scenes when Eero originally leaves Kirsti and then again when he has to leave the Jonsson residence makes the viewer much more emotional as we realize that Eero is yet again being torn from loved ones. I really felt a part of the scene when Signe could not watch Eero be dragged into the car and then she chased him down the road. I thought the acting was phenomenal in that scene and I really began to feel for not only Eero but the Jonsson family as well. Another technique I noticed throughout the movie was the sharpness of the sound. I could here when the cast gulped and many other subtle noises throughout the movie could be heard crystal clear. This made me feel like I was actually watching the film live and helped me become much more attached to the characters as well.
In conclusion, I thought that the film was a 9-10 stars and I would without a doubt recommend it to anyone interested in watching a foreign film. As I mentioned before, I thought the plot was very well thought out and made the viewers feel extremely connected to the characters, of who all acted wonderfully throughout the entire film. All in all, I would not mind watching this film for a second or third time in the future and am very happy that I had the opportunity to view it.
Musta jää (2007)
Review of Black Ice
In Petri Kotwica's film Black Ice, the viewer is able to watch first hand as Saara, the wife of an architect named Leo, infiltrates into the life of Tuuli, who at the time was in the midst of a long affair with Leo. Personally, I thought that this movie was excellent and kept the viewer between being on the edge of our seat while being very uncomfortable as we watched the plot unfold. Throughout the movie, Saara devises a plan to get back not only at Leo, but at Tuuli as well, as she pretends to be Tuuli's friend and helps her to break up with Leo. There were many interesting twists throughout the movie as well as scenarios that we assumed would have resulted in a different outcome, which made the movie a hit in my mind.
Black Ice is a movie about a middle aged couple (Saara and Leo) who live in Finland and our celebrating her birthday at their house. The movie opens with both individuals being fully nude and engaging in sexual intercourse. While this is happening, we are transitioned to another scene where Tuuli is biking, of which she ends up at Leo's house to spy on him. This is symbolic because we are introduced to the love triangle and this is one of the ways Tuuni discovers that Saara is Leo's wife. The scene then jumps back to the birthday party where Saara finds condoms in Leo's guitar case and thus the whole story begins to unfold.
Saara then begins a search for Tuuli and eventually follows her to a martial arts class, where she enters and begins to take sessions. She then hides Tuuli's bike and offers her a ride home, which one could say is the start to their long and controversial friendship.
As the movie rolls on, we see that Saara and Tuuli are building a strong friendship and even mess with Leo a little bit a parties when they are in costumes. The movie takes its biggest turning point when Saara finds out that Tuuli is pregnant, and she knows that if she wants to keep Leo, that she would have to do something about the baby. We are then a first hand witness to Saara drugging Tuuli and what appears to be a way of checking whether or not she is truly pregnant as Saara lubes up her hand and inserts it into her vagina. Tuuli wakes up and the scene then turns into an awkward lesbian kissing and groping session. Upon entering the bathroom, Tuuli discovers many aspects of the house are similar to those she had seen in the drawings of Leo and everything begins to fall into place. Tuuli ends up driving away without seeing Leo and he begins to chase her in his car after accidentally sipping on a drugged drink she left behind. He then drives off the road and ends up walking a distance and freezing to death.
In the end of the movie, Saara is called to perform a surgery on Tuuli (randomly), where she could have easily killed her or the baby or even both, but ends up saving both of their lives. This was the most uncomfortable scene for me due to the fact that after seeing the build up of events up to this point, I figured that Saara would have killed her and taken advantage of the situation. Obviously I predicted wrongly.
As far as how the movie was filmed, I feel that the use of camera angles and close up shots made the viewer feel like we were actually apart of each scene. This is specifically the case when Leo and Saara are having sex in their bed. The distance the scene was being shot from made me feel like I was sitting in their living room watching the whole thing. Another example of the excellent film techniques used in the film was the use the close up shots and extreme close up shots in the sex scenes. It made me feel like I was actually witnessing real sex and could feel the emotions in the air.
A common theme among Nordic films is the idea of secretiveness, which I found to be the most prevalent theme in this film. Between the affair and Saara and Tuuli's friendship, the whole movie was based around the secretiveness of its characters.
Overall, I would rate the film Black Ice an 8 out of 10 Stars. I thought the plot was very interesting and kept the viewer satisfyingly uncomfortable throughout the whole movie. I thought the acting was good, and the cinematic techniques were better than average. I would definitely recommend this movie to those interested in watching an uncomfortable adultery film. The main downside of the movie for me was that I had to read the subtitles and could not put 100% of my concentration on the film itself. Other than that, I thought the movie was great.
Efter brylluppet (2006)
Plot Info and Personal Opinion of After The Wedding
In Susanne Bier's Film After The Wedding, the use of secretiveness and outstanding acting allows for the viewers to really feel like they are sitting in the room, as well as take sides with many of the characters. Currently I am enrolled in a Nordic film class where we have watched many of the most popular films by famous directors such as Lars Von Trier and Kristian Levring. This film, without question, was my favorite out of all the films we have watched thus far for many reasons.
After The Wedding is a film about a man, Jacob Pederson, who runs an orphanage in Bombay India, where he has built a strong relationship with his favorite orphan Pramod. Jacob has made many unsuccessful attempts at organizing projects to gain funding for his organization that is slowly becoming on the verge of bankruptcy. Jacob then learns that there is a business man in Denmark who is greatly considering making a large donation to the orphanage, but he must go talk with him face to face before receiving such funding. Jacob boards a plane to Denmark where he meets Jorgen, a multi-millionaire, who is considering making a substantial donation. Jorgen invites Jacob to his daughters wedding where he is reacquainted with Jorgen's wife Helene who was his ex-girlfriend. During the toasts at dinner, Anna, Jorgen and Helen's daughter, makes a toast where she says that Jorgen is not her real father, even though she loves him so dearly. This is when the story starts to turn and become a little faster paced and energetic as Jacob starts to wonder if Anna is actually his daughter.
As the movie continues and both Jacob and Anna find out from Helene that they are indeed father and daughter, there is a better connection between all of the characters. The story then takes a huge twist, as we find out that Jorgen has an incurable disease and won't be alive much longer. Jorgen had the intention of bringing Jacob into the family so that he would be there to support Helene, Anna, and the children after his death. While it is hard for the family to accept Jorgen's fate, we see the relationship with Jacob and the family begin to really build a foundation. Jacob ends up receiving millions of dollars in a foundation from Jorgen that he has agreed to run side-by-side with Anna, due to the fact that as part of the agreement he had to live in Denmark. After Jorgen's death, we see how close the family is to Jacob as they all embrace him and hold hands with him at the funeral, which I personally never thought would happen prior to the learning of Jorgen's disease. In the end of the movie, Jacob returns to India to ask Pramod to return to Denmark, but he refuses because "the people are all rich and mean there." In my opinion, After The Wedding was an outstanding film, with only one thing that I would have changed. I personally thought that the film was dragged on just a bit too long, but not enough to the point where I was waiting for it to be over. If I had to cut out a scene, it would be the scene towards the end of the film where Jorgen has his birthday party. I would cut this out because I felt that there was nothing major revealed at the dinner, which was not what I thought was going to happen. I thought that Jorgen was going to reveal that he had an incurable disease, however, all he talks about is the future of his company. That is why I believe that this scene could be cut from the film. Otherwise, I thought the use of camera angles, plot twists, and choice of characters made this film an excellent one. Thus, I rate this film a 9 out of 10 stars.
Looking more into detail about why I liked the movie, I thought that the choice of camera angles in the film really made me feel like I was in the room when they were talking, or sitting at a table during the wedding ceremony. Two specific scenes that I thought were excellently shot were the scene where Jacob and Helene were basically trying to start their friendship over again at the kitchen table. Bier used over the shoulder angles and one light source, that being from the window, which made me feel like I was sitting right there with them listening to the conversation. The other scene that I thought was shot spectacularly, was the scene towards the end of the movie where Jorgen is in the bedroom with Helene and he starts to cry out that he "doesn't want to die." Not only was the acting phenomenal in this scene, but the use of medium close-up and high angle shots, makes the viewer feel like we are standing there watching Jorgen cry. Again, I thought the acting was outstanding throughout the whole film, but this scene in particular I could feel the raw emotion being relayed from the actor to the viewer.
Overall, I would rate the film After The Wedding a 9 out of 10 stars and would definitely recommend this film to anyone interested in watching an outstanding foreign film. Like I said before, the use of camera angles, the acting and plot twists really made this movie stand out from other foreign films I have watched in the past. To conclude, if this movie were to be re-made in English in America, with famous American actors, I believe that it would be a huge hit in the United States.
Idioterne (1998)
Movie Review of The Idiots
After viewing the movie The Idiots, by Lars Von Trier, I found that there were many themes evident in the movie as well as many dogma 95 techniques used as well. The Idiots was an almost documentary-like film about a group of individuals that all were staying in Stoffer's uncles house that he was supposed to be trying to sell. Instead of selling the house he invited over some of his friends and they all decided to find their "inner idiot" by "spassing," also known as acting disabled or more blatantly
retarded. They do this both in public and in Stoffer's house and began to cross the line or make the viewers feel uncomfortable after the scene in the factory. Karen, who we are introduced to in the restaurant in the first scene, begins to find her inner idiot after staying at the house for two weeks and is actually the only one to act like an idiot in front of her family at the end of the movie, which was very surprising to me and I'm sure many other people that viewed this film. Some of the themes I found in this film were as follows: public dysfunction, community, confrontation with inner self, freedom, and retardation. Public dysfunction I found to be the main theme due to the fact that the majority of the movie was based around the group of characters acting retarded in public. Next there was a sense of community on the house and when they performed their stunts or acts in public. Confrontation with inner self was another prevalent theme in the film, because the characters were all on a mission to find their "inner idiot." As the characters tried finding their inner selves, this brought up the theme of freedom and the ability to act and say what the wanted too throughout the film. The last theme was retardation, which the film is built around as they are acting retarded both in public and at Stoffer's uncle's house. The key characters in the film were Stoffer, Karen, Susanne, Katrine, Henrik, Axel, Jeppe, and Josephine. Next I am going to talk about the cinematic techniques utilized throughout the film. Since this is considered a Danish Dogma 95 film, there are certain guidelines and rules that Von Trier had to follow. The most noticeable of the techniques was definitely the usage of hand held cameras. The scene that comes to mind when you can really see this is when they are throwing a spass birthday party for Stoffer and they are all running naked in the yard. Also another scene where it is easy to tell that the cameras are hand held is in the factory when the van is leaving. Each step the factory tour guide takes, the camera bounces along with him. Another prevalent theme is the fact that there was never any music being played in the background of the film. Also, we never saw any weapons or murder because it would have had to have been real. Some background information on the film I found was that the movie takes place in Copenhagen, which is the birthplace of Von Trier. This may be the case because he is afraid of flying and is forced to drive to wherever a movie is being filmed. Also, Von Trier's parents were nudists, so perhaps he was a fan of nudity in films because he was so accustomed to being around naked people and was very comfortable with filming and incorporating nudity into his films. The last piece of background information I found was that this film was written in four days, which on one hand is incredible, but at the same time in my opinion could be why I did not take a liking to the movie at all. Lastly, I am going to talk about my personal opinion about the movie. To begin, I will say that this was one of those movies that I will never set aside two hours to watch ever again. The beginning of the movie was funny up until right after the factory. After the factory scene I felt that the movie was very repetitive and I was having a lot of trouble sitting in my seat. There were a few scenes that were painful to sit through and made me uncomfortable such as the scene where they were hanging out with actual handicapped people and spassing with them, which in my opinion, crossed any ethical lines that had not already been crossed in the film. To continue, I can see why films like these are not available or screened in the United States, because the film was very offensive and emotionally traumatizing. Lastly, however, I thought the acting was very good and I was impressed with how the actors were able to keep their composer and not laugh while spassing in public. In conclusion, the film The Idiots was a unique film with an interesting plot, but I would never watch the movie again in the future. If I had to recommend the movie to another individual, I would say that it is a movie you can watch once, but will probably never watch again.