+ Best Danish Movie of the Year + Best Mega-flop Movie of the Year + Best Autobiographical Movie of the Year (Lars Von Trier, screenplay, as Erik Nietzsche)
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| Jonatan Spang as the titular Erik Nietzsche, imprisoned in celluloid on a naked woman's backside on this poster for Jacob Thuesen's The Early Years: Erik Nietzsche Part 1 |
Young Erik gets into the Danish Film School by a mistake and continues there due to pressure and creative curiosity. Kind as he is, he gradually learns how to trick all the idiots there, - and to be kind towards himself.
The Early Years: Erik Nietzsche Part 1 is an autobiography of Danish master filmmaker Lars Von Trier (Breaking the Waves (1996)), who wrote the script based on his own experiences as a student in the Danish Film School in the late 1970s and changed the lead character's name into Erik Nietzsche. It is an extremely cheerful and very funny expose and ridicule of specific persons in the Danish film business and film school, and of the culture in the enclave in general.
Jonatan Spang (Easy Skanking/Fidibus (2006)) is good as the struggling young Erik, and in rambling, hilarious supporting roles Søren Pilmark (Kon-Tiki (2012)), Søren Malling (Mesteren (2017)), Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Game of Thrones (2011-17)) and Jens Albinus (The Idiots/Idioterne (1998)) are a riot. In case you are unfamiliar with Von Trier's humor, be warned: Included as parts of the fun here are copious amounts of sex and excrement. - But The Early Years: Erik Nietzsche Part 1 also abounds with good and well executed ideas. It has to be one of the funniest Danish films of all.
Needless to say, it is funniest if one is Danish and even better if one knows who is being parodied when. My passionate embrace of it also stems from its taking the piss on the glorified film school institution. It is the only second fiction feature to date by great Danish director Jacob Thuesen (Accused/Anklaget (2005)).
Related post:
Jacob Thuesen: 2007 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2007 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
Accused/Anklaget (2005) or, Grey Danish Molestation Misery
Here is a piece of a later project of director Thuesen's, of the Los Angeles freeway system
Cost: Unknown - but in excess of 7.5 mil. DKK - equal to approximately 1.07 mil. $
Box office: Unknown - but reportedly around 243k $
= Unknown - but looks like a mega-flop
[The Early Years: Erik Nietzsche Part 1 premiered 8 September (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 91 minutes. The production was given 7.5 mil. DKK in support from the Danish Film Institute and was put together as a co-production of no less than 15 companies and support funds. In the film's biggest market, its native Denmark, it sold just 2,938 tickets, according to one source, while another claims it made 236k $ there, - which would put the ticket prize at around 78 $! In any case, the film seems to have made regrettably little business. It was nominated for a Robert (Danish Oscar), two Bodils (Danish critics' awards) and the Nordic Council Film Prize. A Part 2 has not been announced yet. 600 IMDb users have given The Early Years: Erik Nietzsche Part 1 a 6.1/10 average rating.]
What do you think of The Early Years: Erik Nietzsche Part 1?
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