4/18/2017

Shake It All About/En Kort En Lang/Shake It (2001) or, Him or Her?



Mads Mikkelsen is like a louse caught between two nails on this poster for Hella Joof's Shake It All About

Jacob proposes to his boyfriend, but then falls for a woman, Caroline. - Can he have it all?

Shake It All About is the charming little romcom debut of Danish co-writer-director Hella Joof (Oh Happy Day (2004)), co-written with Klaus Bondam (Sharks/Inkasso/The Collector (2004), actor), based on an idea by producer Thomas Gammeltoft (Good People (2014)) and Michael Christoffersen (Law of the Jungle (2012, documentary), writer-director). It is an incredibly silly film that provides essentially bad and stereotypical characterizations of gays in a lot of ways, but which also served as the upbeat, Danish coming-together LGBT movie of the new millennium.
It is funny, - although undoubtedly mostly for Danes, - and in the laugh section, especially Ditte Gråbøl (Oh Happy Day) and Peter Frödin (Grethe (2016-17)) tickle the ribs with their performances. Troels Lyby (Headhunter (2009)) and Mads Mikkelsen (Men & Chicken/Mænd & Høns (2015)) are both very good in the leads, and Mikkelsen has the added quality of being very easy on the eyes here. Shake It All About wins an extra point for its wholly fantastic ending.




 Watch a 1-minute scene from the film here

Cost:  Reportedly 16.5 mil. DKK, equal to approximately 2.35 mil. $
Box office: Unknown (but projected at around 36-37 mil. DKK)
= Uncertainty (but likely a minor flop)
[Shake It All About was released 16 November (Denmark) and runs 98 minutes. Shooting took place in Christianshavn, Kastrup Airport and other places in Denmark as well as in Malmö, Sweden. It was shown in competition at the Moscow International Film Festival, worth noting in context of Russia's homophobic culture. The film was a big hit in Denmark, where 584,064 paid admission, (but played in 'Biografklub Danmark' [cinema club Denmark], which means that a large portion of the tickets were sold at half prize), but if it hasn't made more of a dent internationally than the few numbers out suggest (6k admissions in Norway; 26k € gross in Italy), it was, at least theatrically, a minor flop. It was nominated for 6 Robert Awards (Danish Oscar), winning the Audience Award, Best Supporting Actor (Lyby), Best Song (Vent på Mig by Martin Brygmann, Frödin and Joof, which was also a huge Danish radio hit for years) and Best Sound. It was also nominated for 2 Bodil Awards (Danish critics' awards). 2,679 IMDb users have given Shake It All About a 6.1/10 average rating.]

What do you think of Shake It All About?

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