The Art of Crying/Kunsten at Græde i Kor (2006) - Fog's South Jutland incest drama adaptation is a deeply affecting masterpiece

♥♥♥♥♥♥

+ 3rd Best Movie of the Year
+ Best Danish Movie of the Year + Best Drama of the Year + Best Adaptation of the Year

'When dad is happy he forgets to kill himself' reads the tagline on this ominous Danish poster for Peter Schønau Fog's The Art of Crying

In 11 year-old Allan's family in Southern Jutland, his father Henry regularly gets 'poorly' and has to be 'comforted' by Allan's sister Sanne, while their mother leaves them on sleeping pills. But when funerals hit their small town, Henry gets an occasion to shine; by getting everyone to cry with his eulogies.

The Art of Crying is written by Bo Hr. Hansen (Word of God/Gud Taler Ud (2017)), adapting Erling Jepsen's (Frygtelig Lykkelig (2004)) same-titled, autobiographical 2002 novel, and directed by debuting Danish master filmmaker Peter Schønau Fog (You Disappear/Du Forsvinder (2017)).
It is an exceptional, original, heartbreaking and often awfully funny film, which manages eminently to catch the dilatory cadence of the people and region it takes place in, and their rather chilling gloom, especially as it plays out in Henry's intimate and also overly intimate relationship with death. Dark humor also runs as an invisible current through the flat landscapes and the people that move around in them, and through Jepsen and Hansen's dialog.
The film's superb quality of course also stems from first rate performances all-round: Especially Jesper Asholt's (Truly Human/Et Rigtigt Menneske (2001)) portrayal of the terribly destructive Henry and Jannik Lorenzen (Young at Heart/Ungt Hjerte (2016)) and Julie Kolbeck as his two unlucky children are fiercely real in their deeply moving performances.
The Art of Crying is likely the best Danish film in years.

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Watch a short clip from the film here, in which Allan and his milkman father Henry are out on a visit  

Cost: 16.5 mil. DKK, equaling approximately 2.53 mil. $
Box office: 2.2 mil. $
= Huge flop (returned 0.86 times the cost)
[The Art of Crying premiered 9 September (Toronto International Film Festival, Canada) and runs 107 minutes. The funding includes 8.2 mil. DKK in state support. The film was the 18th highest-grossing in Denmark in 2007 with 2.2 mil. $ from 228,303 admissions, an impressive number in the small country, but although it was screened at at least 15 festivals and released regularly in a few countries, it hasn't registered foreign grosses (besides 16k $ in Mexico). The film won an AFI award, 2/4 Bodil award nominations (Denmark's film critics' award), the Nordic Council film prize, 8/11 Robert awards (Denmark's Oscar) and many other honors. It was also Denmark's entry for the 2008 Oscars, but it was snubbed. Fog returned with You Disappear/Du Forsvinder (2017). Asholt returned in Temporary Release/Ledsaget Udgang (2007), Lorenzen in April 9th/9. April (2015). 1,996 IMDb users have given The Art of Crying a 7.5/10 average rating.]

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