Oh Happy Day (2004) - Some fun and uplift in Joof's cliche-ridden second flick

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Co-writer/star Lotte Andersen looks gobsmacked at the feeling of dark hands on her milky-white face on this bright poster for Hella Joof's Oh Happy Day

Middle-aged Hannah lives in a passionless marriage and attends choir at church, where the group there now invite a stranded, American choir leader to lead them. And soon Hannah's life sings to a new tune ...

Oh Happy Day is written by Jannik Johansen (Murk/Mørke (2005)), co-writer/star Lotte Andersen (Okay (2002), actor) and co-writer/director Hella Joof (Shake It All About/En Kort En Lang (2001)).
Andersen's protagonist Hannah is well-acted but too passive and mousy overall, and the cliches come in a steady pace in Joof's spiritual comedy: Not least the one that Danish men are uniformly uncool dorks, but also the cliche of the sensual, musical black man is established fact in Oh Happy Day.
The heavy-handed  script does venture to promote faith and a more liberated church form, which is fine, and Ditte Gråbøl (A Caretaker's Tale/Viceværten (2012)) is a fun sidekick for Andersen. English 1980s popstar Rick Astley has composed some fine songs for the film.
Oh Happy Day would have been a more infectious romcom, if it had been a better film.

Related post:

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

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Reportedly 2 mil. £, equaling approximately 2.5 mil. $
Box office: Unknown, but likely in excess of 2.42 mil. $
= Uncertain, but likely a huge or big flop (likely returned around 1 times its cost)
[Oh Happy Day premiered 25 August (Copenhagen International Film Festival, Denmark) and runs 92 minutes. The production was financed with support from the Danish Film Institute. Shooting took place in Denmark. The film sold 248k tickets in Denmark, making it a local hit, and it was released in Germany, Netherlands and Sweden, although grosses from there are unreported and likely tiny. It was nominated for 6 Robert awards (Denmark's Oscar) and 1 Bodil (Danish film critics awards). Joof returned with Easy Skanking/Fidibus (2006). Andersen returned in Min Søsters Børn i Ægypten (2004); Gråbøl in Forsvar (2004, TV-series) and theatrically in Accused/Anklaget (2005); and Malik Yoba (Bull (2000-01)) in Arrested Development (2004, TV-series), Slur (2005, short) and theatrically in Kids in America (2005). 691 IMDb users have given Oh Happy Day a 5.6/10 average rating.]

What do you think of Oh Happy Day?

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

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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?

Accused/Anklaget (2005) or, Grey Danish Molestation Misery

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If only Jacob Thuesen's Accused had, as this dull poster might suggest, been a film about a man with a freakishly oversized head, I might have liked it better

Accused presents a story of a man who gets accused of molesting his teenage daughter. 


The great dramatic potential in this premise gets lost in the film in excessive underplaying by the filmmakers: Everything is presented in stylistic, oppressive greys, and all the characters are tight-lipped, quiet and awkward. The charmless minimalist approach doesn't lead to suspense or anything much else, but it does make Accused a cold and severely hard-to-like acquaintance.
SPOILER The judicial protocol and direction the events turn towards could have been interesting. A major issue which also regrettably prevents this is lead Troels Lyby's (The Idiots/Idioterne (1998)) acting, which manifests mostly through his annoying, ever-frowning eyebrows. SPOILER The ending, (in which he crawls around in a street and shouts for kids to get an adult), is simultaneously unrealistic, contrived and sloppy filmmaking. It just doesn't work.
Debuting great Danish filmmaker Jacob Thuesen (The Left Wing Gang/Blekingegade (2009-2010, TV miniseries) has worked as an editor on many Danish films and since directed the funny film of Lars Von Trier's youth, The Early Years: Erik Nietszche Part I/Erik Nietszche: De Unge År (2007).
Accused is written by Kim Fupz Aakeson (The One and Only/Den Eneste Ene (1999)).

 

Related post:

 

2005 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]  

This short by director Jacob Thuesen is about the LA freeway system

Cost: Unknown, projected 1.44 mil. $
Box office: Unknown, projected 0.6 mil. $
= Some uncertainty, most likely a mega-flop (returned approximately 0.41 times its cost)
[Accused was released 28 January and runs 103 minutes. Little is publicized of the film's production, but its budget could well be modestly projected at around 10 mil. DKK, approximately 1.44 mil. $. The film sold 48,939 tickets in its native Denmark and was screened at several film festivals, including, most prominently, Berlin International Film Festival. It was nominated for 2 Robert awards (Danish Oscars). Thuesen returned with Freeway (2005, documentary) and theatrically with The Early Years: Erik Nietzsche Part 1 (2007). Lyby returned in Jul i Valhal (2005, TV-series), Below the Belt/Under Bæltestedet (2006, short) and theatrically in Skymaster/Der Var Engang En Dreng - Som Fik En Lillesøster med Vinger (2006), Sofie Gråbøl (The Day Will Come/Der Kommer En Dag (2016)) in True Spirit/Den Rette Ånd (2005). 1,662 IMDb-users have given Accused a 7.1/10 average rating.]

What do you think of Accused?