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?

Murk/Mørke (2005) or, Shutter Jutland

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+ Best Mega-flop of the Year

Star Nikolaj Lie Kaas' face is planted in a fog over a man in a boat on this poster for Jannik Johansen's Murk, which has the tagline 'Ingen bør dø alene', translating to, No one should die alone

Jacob and his wife are journalists on the newspaper Politiken. When Jacob's fragile sister takes her life on her honeymoon, Jacob goes to the site of her tragedy in the little town of Mørke in Jutland to investigate her suspicious husband-to-be.

Murk is written by Anders Thomas Jensen (Men & Chicken/Mænd & Høns (2015)) and co-writer/director Jannik Johansen (Stealing Rembrandt/Rembrandt (2003)). Mørke is the name of a real town in Jutland, and the name translates to 'murk'.
Nikolaj Lie Kaas (Clash of Egos/Sprængfarlig Bombe (2006)) plays the protagonist as a really sour, sullen, skeptical, doubtful man; Nicolas Bro (People Get Eaten/Mennesker Bliver Spist (2015)) is frightening as the psychopath brother-in-law Anker. Together the two keep things lively in a somewhat anemic script, which trots around more than necessary in things we have already figured out. The film is handsomely shot (by Rasmus Videbæk (Island of Lost Souls/De Fortabte Sjæles Ø (2007))), if also sometimes stating the obvious, and well scored (by Antony Genn (The Look of Love (2013))).
Bit parts, especially the country cop, lack color. Laura Drasbæk (Daisy Diamond (2007)) is good but has ridiculous hair here. Murk is an overall good, quiet thriller.

 

Related post:

 

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

Watch an automatically generated Wikipedia video of Jannik Johansen here

Cost: 22 mil. DKK, equal to approximately 3.33 mil. $
Box office: In the neighborhood of 1.068 mil. $
= Mega-flop (returned around 0.32 times its cost)
[Murk premiered 23 August (Copenhagen International Film Festival, Denmark) and runs 124 minutes. Both of Kaas' parents committed suicide, when he was young. The film sold 100,682 tickets in its production country Denmark, making a gross of somewhere in the neighborhood of 1.068 mil. $, which would make the film a mega-flop. It only played in 3 other markets, only at relatively small festivals. The film was nominated for 5 Robert awards (Danish Oscars) and 2 Bodil awards (Danish film critics awards). There was talks of a US remake in the following years, which never came to fruition. Johansen returned with White Night/Hvid Nat (2007). Kaas returned in Allegro (2005), also with Bro. 2,510 IMDb users have given Murk a 6.8/10 average rating at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Murk?

Terribly Happy/Frygtelig Lykkelig (2008) or, A Fix in Southern Jutland

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Not much is revealed, besides a story that involves a man, a woman and a gun, on this forgettable poster for Henrik Ruben Genz's Terribly Happy

A policeman from Copenhagen draws his gun on his wife and gets sent to a position in Southern Jutland as punishment. As a countryside cop there, he soon finds himself entangled in the very particular 'methods' of the locals.

Terribly Happy is written by Dunja Gry Jensen (Norskov (2015-17)) and co-writer-director Henrik Ruben Genz (Chinaman/Kinamand (2005)), based on the same-titled 2004 novel by Erling Jepsen (Ingen Grund til Overdramatisering (1999)). Despite the film having a bit of a slow uptake, it proves to be a good, exciting country-set noir/dark comedy.
Kim Bodnia (The Name of the Game/Krigarnas Ö (2016)) and Lene Maria Christensen (Brothers/Brødre (2004)) are perfect as the town's punchy heavy and its good-looking blond.
Terribly Happy has several intense scenes and homicidal-fatalistic horrors. Some minor flaws and an annoying tail to an otherwise great, wicked ending weigh it down a little bit. Still this is a very well-made and recommendable plate.

In lieu of a trailer for the film, not currently available on Youtube, here is a bizarre television event in which Jepsen is to have a conversation with Genz but slaps him playfully in the face twice in the beginning, making Genz's lip bleed so that he leaves the situation, leaving the writer awkwardly alone with the still filming camera crew

Cost: 20.5 mil. DKK, equaling approximately 3.41 mil. $
Box office: Uncertain
= Uncertain - but likely a huge flop
[Terribly Happy premiered 5 July (Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Czech Republic) and runs 99 minutes. The film has played at at least 16 film festivals in different countries. It had a limited release in North-America, where it peaked at #51 and in 9 theaters (different weeks) and grossed 170k $. In its native Denmark, 266,795 paid admission to see it, which is considered successful here. Unfortunately, the film played within the framework of the Cinema Club Denmark, which means that most audiences only paid half prize for their tickets. I'd predict its theatrical gross somewhere in the 15 mil. DKK range, making it still a huge flop by Film Excess' high standards. This is in line with its producer's statement in an interview that he hasn't made a dime on it. It was Denmark's entry for the 2010 Oscars, but it wasn't nominated. It won 7/14 Robert nominations (Denmark's Oscar) and 6/7 Bodil nominations (Denmark's film critics' awards). Genz returned theatrically with Excuse Me/Undskyld Jeg Forstyrrer (2012), another Jepsen adaptation. Terribly Happy is certified fresh at 89 % with a 7.3/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Terribly Happy?