The Apprentice (2024) - Abbasi and Co. tackle world's most debated man effectively

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Enlarged to the traditional size of Kaiju movie monsters, the three stars threaten to wreak havoc on New York City on this fine poster for Ali Abbasi's The Apprentice

The son of American businessman Fred Trump, Donald Jr. is hellbent on making himself stand out in a way that his perceived let-down pilot brother has neglected, and to boost himself into a New York tycoon and world-famous business leader, he enrolls under the mentorship of local ruthless lawyer Roy Cohn.

 

The Apprentice is written by Gabriel Sherman (Independence Day: Resurgence (2016)) and directed by Iranian-born Danish master filmmaker Ali Abbasi (Shelley (2016)), whose 4th feature it is.

A biopic about the arguably most talked-about and controversial figure worldwide in the last few decades, and then releasing it during the subject's third presidential campaign, is bound to be divisive. The filmmakers have 'attacked' their central character from a critical, leftist position to be sure but to their credit have attempted to tell the story of the 1970s and 1980s arrival of Donald Trump in business without their sentiments and politics sneaking in. Global opinion on Trump is still very much in determination, and will be for his second period as US President 2025-29. This makes for an obstacle for the film, because in essence many audiences will be still too much involved in the ongoing 'Trump reality' to have the reserve and interest to look into a fictional retelling of his past. In any case he is such a behemoth that the film is likely to keep attracting new audiences for the years to come. 

This is of course also based on the fact that The Apprentice is fueled by a strong script and great performances: Sebastian Stan (Ghosted (2023)) arrives in force and is very authentic as Trump; Jeremy Strong (Succession (2018-23)) is intense and highly persuasive as the chameleon-like, powerful Cohn, SPOILER whose AIDS disease renders him an outcast before his death; and Maria Bakalova (Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022)) as Donald's first wife Ivana, who is portrayed brilliantly as a flawed but mostly sympathetic woman. Martin Donovan (Tenet (2020)) is a great choice and very good as Fred Trump. The production design and locations are never lacking, but what is lacking in the life of Donald Trump, it seems, is love and sincere affection. A shark-like pursuit of money and power instead rules supreme. This makes his story a fairly dark watch, but the pacing nevertheless keeps it moving well, SPOILER and a darkly humorous, directorially rich flourish in the end is that Abbasi provides a gruelingly visual account of Donald's liposuction and bald spot plastic operations which he cross cuts with Cohn's demise. Appropriately devoid of sentimentality, The Apprentice has an admirable punk rock energy, serious performances and may very well stand the test of time.

 

Related posts:

 

Ali Abbasi: 2022 in films - according to Film Excess 

Holy Spider (2022) - Blood on the hands of Iran's Islamic system and its leaders

Border/Gräns (2018) - The second Lindqvist adaptation is another wtf-experience with muddled implications if any

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 16 mil. $

Box office: 12.1 mil. $ and counting

= Too early to say

[The Apprentice premiered 20 May (Cannes Film Festival, main competition) and runs 123 minutes. Announced in 2018, the film only really came underway when the cast and Abbasi were announced in 2022 and 2023. 15 companies and support bodies were involved in the financing and production of the film. Shooting took place from November 2023 - January 2024 in Ontario, including in Toronto. SPOILER The rape scene was based on Ivana Trump's divorce deposition (under oath) in which she alleged it. She backed away from the allegation 30 years later, during Trump's third presidential campaign. Trump's amphetamine use was detailed in Harry Hurt's biography. The film was attacked by Dan Snyder, one of its financial backers, who had thought it would be a positive account of its subject. His stake was then bought by James Shani and Rich Spirit, already stakeholders in the film. Trump's team unsuccessfully tried to stop it from coming out, while Abbasi invited Trump to see it for himself, getting no response. Trump called the film a "disgusting hatchet job" and the filmmakers "human scum". The film's distribution prospects were made difficult by Trump's looming power, but it was eventually released, just weeks prior to the November 2024 election. The film opened #10 to a 1.6 mil. $ first weekend in 1,740 theaters in North America, its peak there, where it has so far grossed 3.9 mil. $. The film's BoxOfficeMojo site is missing its Danish gross, where it has so far grossed at least 640k $. The film has two announced markets left to release in; Russia and Japan. It lost the Palme d'Or to Anora. Abbasi does not have his next film announced yet. Stan returns in Thunderbolts (2025); Strong in Deliver Me from Nowhere; and Bakalova in Triumph (2024). The Apprentice is certified fresh at 82 % with a 6.80/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Apprentice?

In the Blood/I Blodet (2016) - Youth in Copenhagen captured in striking debut

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+ Best Copenhagen Movie of the Year

 

Young, nearly adult characters superimposed with the tagline 'tomorrow we become adults' on the pleasant poster for Rasmus Heisterberg's In the Blood

 

Simon is a young student of medicine, who shares a flat with several other young friends and parties abundantly. He and his best friend Knud have a plan to travel out and have a longer stay abroad in Bolivia.

 

In the Blood is written and directed by debuting Rasmus Heisterberg (King's Game/Kongekabale (2004)). The title is a literal translation of the original Danish one.

Exceptionally fine photography (by Niels Thastum (Exit Plan/Selvmordsturisten (2019))) roots our situation of being observing outsiders to an intimate portrayal of youth here, heightening this very Copenhagen film. What it portrays is the intoxicating, anxiety-provoking time as a young free person; that time which for most people in hindsight seems to have lasted too shortly.

The acting, if not flawless, is good throughout. At one point I tired some with the drinking-obsessed, low brow friends, (why couldn't they have been a bit more differentiated, charming, funny?), SPOILER and then the film develops a bit anticlimactically, since the Bolivia plan never materializes. As so often happens, the 'small story' is chosen over the larger one, in a Danish picture. In the Blood, as also habitually happens, was overly celebrated locally, but it is still a good movie.

 

Related posts:

 

Rasmus Heisterberg: 2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

Department Q: The Absent One/The Absent One/Fasandræberne (2014) - Nørgaard's second Q movie picks up some slack (co-writer)

Northwest/Nordvest (2013) - Strong performances make Noer's underwritten crime thriller work (co-writer)

Truth About Men/Sandheden om Mænd (2010) - Arcel's witty meta-dramedy (co-writer)

Cecilie (2007) - Well-made but unoriginal Danish horror (co-writer) 

Fighter (2007) - Arthy makes good youth drama with propulsive kung fu (co-writer) 

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: Unknown, projected 1.46 mil. $ (10 mil. DKK)

Box office: Approximately 529k $

= Mega-flop (projected return of 0.36 times its cost)

[In the Blood premiered 10 September (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 104 minutes. Shooting took place in Denmark, including in Copenhagen, in Germany and Thailand. The film sold only 6,006 tickets in Denmark, the only market in which it had a general release. It was also screened at 8 festivals. If made on a realistic first feature low budget of 10 mil. DKK, the film would rank as a mega-flop. It was nominated for 8 Robert awards (Denmark's Oscar), winning one. Heisterberg has not returned as a director since and has taken a long break from films in fact; though he is finally returning as co-writer on Joshua Oppenheimer's hotly anticipated The End (2024). Kristoffer Bech (Stjernestøv (2020, TV-series)) returned in Hjertestart (2017); Elliott Crosset Hove (Before the Frost/Før Frosten (2018)) in Across the Waters/Across the Waters (2016). 746 IMDb users have given In the Blood a 6.0/10 average rating.]

 

What do you think of In the Blood? 

Rom (2024) - Bendixen and terrific trio win with great romcom

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A beloved trio of seasoned actors in one of the world's most beloved cities tease on this poster for Niclas Bendixen's Rom

Gerda and Kristoffer have been married for 40 years and have been gifted a vacation in Rome by their daughter. But when they happen upon Gerda's old Swedish art teacher there, the stay gets thrown on its head, and old secrets and truths start to seep out.

Rom is written by co-writer/co-star Kristian Halken (A Funny Man/Dirch (2011)), co-writer/executive producer Christian Torpe (Rita (2012-20)) and co-writer/director, great Danish filmmaker Niclas Bendixen (Ditte & Louise (2018)). The original Danish title translates to 'Rome'.

The film's motor is first and foremost its star trio: Halken as the delightfully frank and ordinary man Kristoffer; Bodil Jørgensen (Hvide Sande (2011, TV-series)) as the more vivacious Gerda, whose buried passions are unearthed by Rolf Lassgård (Min Pappa Marianne (2020)) as the expat hedonist. They all three give delightful performances in a film that bursts with a sense of spontaneous fun and lightness.

Manuel Alberto Claro's (The Pact/Pagten (2021)) cinematography imbues the Roman holiday that encompasses the entire film with this sense of 'real-life' and spontaneity. The plot and lines are funny, filled with fine little details and unpretentious but charming turns. Underlying the misadventure rests a keen wisdom about love and marriage, and Bendixen and his stars capture this very well in a genuinely funny, very successful romcom that also wins on lots of lovely local Italian flavors in the guise of performances, locations and vocabulary.

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 2.592 mil. €, approximately 2.8 mil. $

Box office: 1.01 mil. $ and counting

= Uncertain

[Rom premiered 3 February (Göteborg Film Festival, Sweden) and runs 98 minutes. 1.347 mil. € of the film's budget came from a DFI subsidy. Shooting took place in Rome, Italy. Bendixen's mother passed away suddenly during shooting. The film opened #1 in Denmark, where it has sold 90k tickets to date and plays in the Biografklub Danmark/Cinema Club Denmark, meaning that a large portion of its patrons pay only half prize. It is set to release in Sweden on 5 April. Bendixen does not have his next film announced yet. Jørgensen returns in Seaside Hotel/Badehotellet (2013-) and theatrically in B.O.Y - Bruises of Yesterday; Lassgård in Whiskey on the Rocks (2024, miniseries), with no theatrical return announced yet; and Halken's return is not announced yet. 67 IMDb users have given Rom a 7.4/10 average rating.]

What do you think of Rom?

Holiday (2018) - Poor Turkey holiday in drowsy debut

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A modelesque young blonde in a bathing suit stands in a pool of blood on this alarming poster for Isabella Eklöf's Holiday

In a Turkish coastal town a Danish group arrive, drug criminals from Copenhagen with young, blonde Sascha as the boss' mistress, who accepts a great many things in order to be awarded this dubious honor.

 

Holiday is written by Johanne Algren (Copenhagen Cowboy (2022, TV-series)) and debuting co-writer/director Isabella Eklöf (Willkommen in Barbaristan (2009, short)). 

It is a mysterious film that lacks a narrative drive; one may at most talk of a drift here. Our engagement in Sascha and the other characters, who we mostly observe from a distance, is also very limited, since they are all quite repulsive. 

Striking compositions and credible performances just barely save Holiday from being a total slump. - But what is Swedish Eklöf trying to convey to us with this film? And why exactly is it people from the Danish peninsula Amager that should be portrayed like this? (Instead of, for instance, representatives of the legions of criminal clans that wreak havoc in Eklöf's own country?)

 

Related post:

 

Isabella Eklöf: Border/Gräns (2018) - The second Lindqvist adaptation is another wtf-experience with muddled implications if any (co-writer) 

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 11.5 mil. DKK, approximately 1.68 mil. $

Box office: Approximately 45k $

= Box office disaster (returned 0.02 times its cost)

[Holiday premiered 21 January (Sundance Film Festival) and runs 93 minutes. Shooting took place in Turkey. The film sold 3,094 tickets in its home market (Denmark) and has a recorded UK gross of 2,678 $. In total this should come to around 45k $. The film was nominated for 6 Robert awards, Denmark's Oscar, among other honors. Eklöf returned with Servant (2021, TV-series), Industry (2022, TV-series) and theatrically with Kalak (2023). Vic Carmen Sonne (In the Blood/I Blodet (2016)), who plays Sascha, returned in Neon Heart (2018).  Holiday is fresh at 78 % with a 7.30/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Holiday? 

Player (2013) - Plot and quality head South for Danish comedy team

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Two of Denmark's most famous funny men riding a scooter with big smiles in Southern France try to sell here on the poster for Tomas Villum Jensen's Player

A dull lawyer from Copenhagen is handling a divorce case in Southern France, before he is going to propose to his boss' daughter. But on the trip he has soon lost 10 mil. Danish kroner, as he meets an old friend and a beautiful woman.

 

Player is written by Marie Østerbye (The Rain (2018, VoD TV-series)) and co-writer/co-star Casper Christensen (Dan-Dream (2017)), based on an idea from director Tomas Villum Jensen (Kærlighed ved Første Hik (1999)).

The beautiful woman in France remains a cipher until the end, except for the qualities of having a lovely smile and figure, and seeming nice and more natural than the daughter that the lawyer plans to marry.

Player provokes light chuckles three to four times, but unfortunately it is extinguished of really funny mix-ups, and Christensen probably should have abandoned this type of douche-bag character type after his long engagement with a similar one in the Clown/Klovn universe (TV-series 2005-18 plus three features in 2010, 2015 and 2020.) The climax of Player is also extremely short, which confirms the few, lazy or unstimulated narrative nerves behind the film.

 

Related posts:

 

Tomas Villum Jensen: Sprængfarlig Bombe (2006) - The two Jensens' satire is unrefined but hilarious

Sidste Time (1995) - Hammy, heavy-handed Danish teen horror (actor) 

 

 

Watch a 3-minute clip from the film here

 

Cost: 19 mil. DKK, approximately 2.77 mil. $

Box office: 1.3 mil. $

=  Mega-flop (returned 0.46 times its cost)

[Player was released 20 June (Denmark) and runs 90 minutes. Shooting took place in Copenhagen, Denmark and France. The film opened #2 in Denmark, where 96,089 paid admission in total. The film was not released in other markets. Jensen has since left directing alone, only except for 3 TV specials of celebrities playing golf. Christensen returned in Klown Forever (2015); Rasmus Bjerg (Held for Ransom/Ser Du Månen Daniel (2019)) in Gentlemen (2014). 1.2k IMDb users have given Player a 4.7/10 average rating.]

 

What do you think of Player? 

Kysset (2022) - August and Smed reteam for estimable period love drama

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A passionate kiss atop a scene of soldiers on horseback adorn this poster for Bille August's Kysset

Anton is the grown son of a working class home disgraced by his father's disappearance, who wants to redeem the family honor by excelling in the army. In the period leading up to the outbreak of WWI, he befriends a wealthy baron, who sees great promise of the second lieutenant in connection to his young invalid daughter. 

 

Kysset is written by Greg Latter (Night Train to Lisbon (2013)) with Danish master filmmaker, co-writer/director Bille August (In My Life/Honning Måne (1978)) contributing elements. It is an adaptation of Stefan Zweig's (Spring in the Prater/Praterfühlung (1900)) Beware of Pity/Ungeduld des Herzens (1939). The Danish title translates to 'the kiss'.

August reteams with his co-star of his recent long period drama A Fortunate Man/Lykkeper (2018), Esben Smed (Follow the Money/Bedrag (2016-19)), who is again an ideal actor for August's lingering camera and a character-based drama. Where the former film was Smed manifested as a man who lacked humility, which brought him at odds with his peers, Anton of Kysset lacks bravery or assuredness in his feelings. He is caught in debilitating doubt. A doubt that is fascinating and which reflects the film's central theme of whether or not love can or should be based on pity or bad conscience in some cases. Obligation and speculation also comes into play, but it is really the matter of pity and empathy that is the question here. SPOILER In the end Anton fails to take a clear stand and instead causes the baron's daughter Edith to commit suicide due to his cowardice, and he himself goes to war and gets shot dead in an act of foolish heroics (some may say heroic bravery) in the trench war. The film thus ends as a tragedy.

Smed's acting of Anton's doubts, as the whole course of the remainder of his life is suddenly on the table for a relationship that he is not fully convinced about, is supremely palpable. Lars Mikkelsen (The Venus Effect/Venuseffekten (2021)) and David Dencik (Chernobyl (2019, miniseries)) are good as the baron and Dr. Faber, the latter of whom treats Edith despite there being little chance of her ever recovering her ability to walk properly again. Clara Rosager (Before the Frost/Før Frosten (2018)) is fine as the emotional and volatile Edith, who is also difficult because she seems stunted in a teenager's dramatic frame of mind, around the age that her horse accident left her infirm. Sometimes the lines come out of her mouth in a way that feels as if she has practiced them a lot but that they don't really come from her, but it is a matter of actors of different classes (Rosager against Smed), and she does give the character the emotionally high-strung center that she needs.

The film is smaller in scope than A Fortunate Man but highly well-produced, no less powerful and highly enjoyable as a sensitive artist's grown up's drama with full moral and ethical dilemmas of universal grain. 

 

Related posts:

Bille August: 2018 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2018 in films - according to Film Excess 

A Fortunate Man/Lykke-Per (2018) - Smed is terrific in August's magnificent production, though haunted by miniseries structure 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 33.3 mil. DKK; approximately 4.75 mil. $

Box office: Around 2.2 mil. $ and counting

= Too early to say

[Kysset premiered 15 October (Warsaw Film Festival, Poland) and runs 116 minutes. Shooting took place from August - October 2021 in Hungary and Denmark. The film has so far sold 171,480 tickets in Denmark, its only market in general release, where the film is playing in Biografklub Denmark, meaning that probably at least half of the patrons are only paying half prize for their ticket. This comes to a gross of around 15.4 mil. DKK or 2.2 mil. $ (the average ticket prize set at 120 DKK). The film is not likely to become profitable theatrically. August is in pre-production with 4 films, the first one titled The Emperor of Dreams - Gianni Versace. Smed is returning in 2 TV-series but does not have his theatrical return announced yet; Rosager also returns in 2 TV-series but has no theatrical return announced yet. 131 IMDb users have given Kysset a 6.8/10 average rating.]

 

What do you think of Kysset? 

Okay (2002) - Insufferable characters in Danish dramedy turkey

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+ 2nd Worst Movie of the Year

 

A sparse and very bright poster with a very long tag-line for Jesper W. Nielsen's Okay

Nete is a tough woman as a social worker in a job center, with her teenage daughter at home, and with her lax teacher/'writer' husband. But when her father turns out to be a terminal case, her world gets turned upside down.

 

Okay is written by Kim Fupz Aakeson (A Soap/En Soap (2006)) and directed by great Danish filmmaker Jesper W. Nielsen (Retfærdighedens Rytter (1989)).

Paprika Steen (The Idiots/Idioterne (1998)) gives it her all and is fired up on all engines, unfortunately in a character here who becomes too emotionally charged, loud, dictatorial and unsympathetic, dragon-like, - so much so that one wishes that she was the terminal case in Okay. Nete is the type of woman who is always right - about everything (in her own world.) But the other characters in the film are also often insufferable, - and not at all 'okay', - a terrible title by the way.

The filmmakers attempt to recreate the success of Susanne Bier's romcom local smash hit Den Eneste Ene (1999) with a bit more dramedy to it and again a radio-friendly soundtrack of café-aimed pop. This is entirely inappropriate in the context of the death theme in Okay, which is basically just a bit of spice to the 'almost adult' (fully-grown) 'artists'' limitless navel-picking here, both in front of and behind the camera. Okay is a lazy, self-enamored, out of touch with reality film from a lousy script without focus, laughs or seriousness.

 

Related post:

 

2002 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 13.2 mil. DKK, approximately 1.84 mil. $

Box office: In excess of 2.59 mil. $

= Uncertain, but likely a big flop (projected return of 1.46 times its cost)

[Okay was released 27 March (Denmark) and runs 97 minutes. 56.8 % of the budget was a grant from the Danish Film Institute. Shooting took place from March - April 2001 in Denmark, including in Copenhagen. The film was relatively successful in Denmark, where it got 235,610 admissions. At an average 73 DKK prize, this comes to around 2.38 mil. $ (88.1 % of the total gross). The only other market with information available is Germany, where the film grossed 210k $ (7.8 %). The film was released in a handful of other countries with likely small numbers. The projected final gross is 2.7 mil. $. The film won 3/9 Robert awards (Denmark's Oscar) and was nominated for a European Film award and the Nordic Council Prize, among other honors. Nielsen returned with Manden Bag Døren (2005). Steen returned in Open Hearts/Elsker Dig For Evigt (2002); Ole Ernst (Flugten (1973)) in Debutanten (2002, short) and theatrically in Rembrandt (2002); Troels Lyby (Klassefesten (2011)) in Hvor Svært Kan Det Være? (2002, TV-series), Annas Dag (2003, short) and theatrically in Tæl til 100 (2004). 1.5k+ IMDb uses have given Okay a 6.6/10 average rating.]

 

What do you think of Okay? 

When Animals Dream/Når Dyrene Drømmer (2014) - Artsy, ineffectual Danish horror debut

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Two menacing, opposite realities seem to be lurking on this poster for Jonas Alexander Arnby's When Animals Dream

In a fishing village in Jutland, Denmark, a young woman begins working at the fish factory, where she soon gets the attention of the opposite sex. Meanwhile she changes physically, which is somehow connected to her mother ...

 

When Animals Dream is written by Rasmus Birch (Miss Viborg (2022)) with Christoffer Boe (Allegro (2005)) and debuting co-writer/director Jonas Alexander Arnby (Hjemvendt (2001, short)) contributing ideas. The English title is a literal translation of the original Danish title.

With a not exactly thrilling lead performance (from debuting Sonia Suhl (Søvn (2018)), who seems a bit old for this to work as a puberty fable, (she was 19 while playing 16), When Animals Dream ventures out with a quiet style that's so underplayed and, regrettably, half-baked that one can barely even call this werewolf movie a werewolf movie. Scenes of identification with the protagonist and scenes of terror are missing, and the film also lacks an escalation and a wildness to it. 

There are a couple of good scenes: SPOILER In one the girl is pushed down into the fish offal by the factory, and in another she chews on glass in front of her father.

Aesthetically an artistic style has been attempted here, but it is too unclear what is aimed for. As a horror flick, When Animals Dream fails.

 

 

Watch a short clip from the film here

 

Cost: Reportedly 4 mil. €, approximately 4.01 mil. $

Box office: Around 149k $

=  Box office disaster (returned 0.03 times its cost)

[When Animals Dream premiered 19 May (Cannes Film Festival, out of main competition) and runs 84 minutes. Shooting took place in Jutland and Copenhagen, Denmark. The film sold just 3,296 tickets in Denmark, which, at an 85 DKK average prize comes to just under 38k $ (25.5 % of the total gross). The film's biggest market was Germany with 81k $ (54.4 %). Denmark was the 2nd biggest, and Argentina was 3rd biggest with 17k $ (11.4 %). The film was screened on a long row of film festivals and also had releases in a few other markets that are not listed on its Box Office Mojo site, likely because the grosses were too negligible. The film won 2/9 Robert awards (Denmark's Oscar), among other honors. Arnby returned with Exit Plan/Suicide Tourist/Selvmordsturisten (2019). Suhl returned in Teenland (2014, short) and theatrically in Søvn (2018). When Animals Dream is fresh at 73 % with a 6/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of When Animals Dream? 

Sidste Time (1995) - Hammy, heavy-handed Danish teen horror

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An evil eye and a terrorized teen ditto stand out on this dark poster for Martin Schmidt's Sidste Time

A tabloid crime show broadcasts from in front of a high school, where a wave of murders is decimating a locked-in group of students.

Sidste Time is written by Dennis Jürgensen (Bag Det Stille Ydre (2005)) and directed by debuting Martin Schmidt (Kat (2001)). The original Danish title translates to 'last hour', referring to the last class of the day for a student.

A generous three heart rating here to this heavy-handed Danish horror that's very teenage-eschewed but has something worthwhile to it: A ghost-story-like fright factor. The acting is fair, - the TV host and the Last Girl performances are especially energetic, - and the dialog is decent. There is a scene with Thomas Bo Larsen (Another Round/Druk (2020)), which falls out of the overall tone of the film as only comical (and it is in fact a lot of fun.) But Sidste Time is also often involuntarily funny.

Schmidt is no great director. Here again and again he interrupts scary starts with scenes of the TV show shooting outside the school that are without real purpose. The film stalls and doesn't have nearly enough terror. It also has a horrible, 1980s-sounding score (by Frans Bak (Men & Chicken/Mænd og Høns (2015))) and a title song by Søs Fenger that is, in a word, misguided. One wonders, was the film prohibited for some incomprehensible reason from being really scary?

 

Enjoy Søs Fenger and Elisabeth Gjerulff Nielsen's misguided title song here

 

Cost: 4.5 mil. DKK, approximately 0.61 mil. $

Box office: In excess of 4.8 mil. DKK, approximately 0.65 mil. $

= Uncertain, but likely a big flop (projected return of 1.32 times its cost)

[Sidste Time was released 22 February (Germany) and runs 77 minutes. Shooting took place for 18 days in a school in Hørsholm, Zealand, Denmark, which was offered for the production because it was closed for reconstruction due to widespread mold decay. In Denmark the film sold 118,496 tickets, coming to 4.8 mil. DKK, based on the average 41 DKK ticket prize at the time. Regrettably there is no info available on the film's performance in Germany, Norway and Finland, where it was also released. Most likely it was tiny releases in those countries, and with a projected final gross of 6 mil. DKK/0.81 mil. $, the film would rank as a big flop. Schmidt returned with Mørkeleg (1996). 1,2k+ IMDb users have given Sidste Time a 5.8/10 average rating.]

What do you think of Sidste Time?

Angels in Fast Motion/Nordkraft (2005) - Madsen fumbles with druggie adaptation

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Contrasting colors used deftly on this poster for Ole Christian Madsen's Angels in Fast Motion, which showcases its three derelict main characters

In Aalborg, Jutland we meet Steso, a drug addict rebel with high-minded ideas; Maria, a crisis-hit drug mule; and Allan, a scarred factory worker with a debt. All of them have dysfunctional family backgrounds.

 

Angels in Fast Motion is written by Bo Hr. Hansen (Speed Walking/Kapgang (2014)) and great Danish filmmaker, co-writer/director Ole Christian Madsen (Lykkelige Jim (1993)), adapting the same-titled 2002 novel by Jakob Ejersbo (Liberty (2009)). The original title, which translates to 'North force', is the name of the now closed power plant by the harbor in Aalborg.

Madsen steals from films that Angels in Fast Motion don't anywhere near in terms of quality (such as Requiem for a Dream (2000) and The Rules of Attraction (2002)). The film has lots of good - but sometimes distracting - Danish rock.

Thure Lindhardt (Kill Command (2016)), Farshad Kholghi (Åndehullet (2003, TV-series)) and others do well in the credible characters created by Ejersbo. Angels in Fast Motion is bogged down by many poor dispositions by Madsen, - excessive use of voice-over, unimpressive camera work, sudden stylization etc., - and it finally comes out a neither very punchy nor a good film.

Related posts:

 

Ole Christian Madsen: 2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]  

2008 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 
2008 in films - according to Film Excess

Flame & Citron/Flammen og Citronen (2008) - Madsen's thrilling WWII resistance picture 

 

 

In this video Madsen talks about his most recent film The Day We Died/Krudttønden (2020)

 

Cost: Reportedly 20.2 mil. DKK

Box office: At least 14.6 mil. DKK

= Huge flop (returned 0.72 times its cost)

[Angels in Fast Motion was released 4 March (Denmark) and runs 120 minutes. Shooting took place from March - June 2004 in Denmark, including Copenhagen. The film sold 195,265 tickets in Denmark, coming to a gross of around 14.5 mil. DKK. The film won 5/7 Robert awards, Denmark's Oscar.  Madsen returned with Prague/Prag (2006). Lindhardt returned in Bag det Stille Ydre (2005); Signe Egholm (Breeder (2020)) in Den Store Dag (2005); and Claus Riis Østergaard (Hacker (2019)) in Cecilie (2007). 2,700+ IMDb users have given Angels in Fast Motion a 6.8/10 average rating.]

What do you think of Angels in Fast Motion?