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? 

House of Cards - season 3 (2015, VoD) - Marital crisis in so-far best season of Presidential drama

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The Underwoods are leaving Air Force One on a red carpet against an ominous grey sky on this poster for the third season of Beau Willimon's House of Cards

House of Cards - season 3 is created by Beau Willimon (The Ides of March (2011)), based on the BBC miniseries of the same name from 1990, which in turn was based on the same-titled 1989 novel by Michael Dobbs (Winston's War (2002)).

The following season summary contains SPOILERS:

 

Frank has become US President, and his wife, First Lady Claire Underwood also seeks active service as American UN ambassador. Frank's approval ratings are low, and he wants to improve them by stimulating job growth. His former Chief of Staff Doug Stamper meanwhile is trying to overcome a personal downfall.

Stamper, desperate to get back in the game, accepts helping Claire out with her candidacy. Frank faces opposition from within his own party in his road towards securing their nomination as presidential candidate 1½ years hence.

While the Underwoods' favorite personal NSA bodyguard Meechum has gone missing, the Russian President Petrov visits the White House, and Frank boldly decides against appeasing him, when he appears not to be willing to give them any concessions.

Frank's bluff of outwardly saying that he is not interested in running for president gets called by a promising opposing candidate. Claire has become UN ambassador and faces problems dealing with the Russians in the Middle East. Another shocking page is written on Frank's monstrous hidden side, when he spits at a Jesus statue and breaks it on the floor during a church visit. 

Frank spends a large sum from an emergency fund to make jobs (and regain popularity), and he helps Claire with a troop deployment in Jordan. Doug courts opposing Democratic presidential candidate Dunbar.

Frank and Claire head to Russia on a visit that does not go smoothly. The release of an American gay rights activist is botched, and the man commits suicide, while they are in the country, leading to scandal and marital strife.

Realizing that the rift is unbearable for both, Frank and Claire renew their wedding vows.

The ghost writer Tom, who is working on Frank's autobiography with him, and a keen political journalist Kate, who is describing Frank as a tyrant in an opinion piece, start a relationship. A hurricane ends Frank's AmWorks cashflow, and he decides it is time to announce his candidacy for President.

Trouble brews in the Jordan valley, and Doug finally finds proof that the potentially dangerous ex-prostitute that he followed in previous seasons, has died a violent death. He gets hammered and then presents Frank with the evidence, which he instructs Meechum, back on the force, to burn.

Petrov demands withdrawal from the Jordan valley, and Frank travels there and instead secures Russian withdrawal - against a promise that Claire will give up her UN job.

Chief of Staff Remy Danton leaves the office in regret, as the Democratic Presidential race begins with an Iowa debate, in which Frank alienates opposing candidate Jackie Sharp (Danton's ex-lover) the the point where she soon after the debate bows out and offers her support for Dunbar. Doug's 60 days of sobriety are over.

Claire is a good trooper for Frank's candidacy, as Dunbar threatens to release damaging details from her old diary, which Doug attains and destroys, securing himself back the position as Chief-of-Staff. Tom loses his girlfriend over his dedication to the job of writing the autobiography.

The mysterious prostitute who was thought dead turns up alive again in rural Des Moines, where Doug murders and buries her in the wilderness. Claire's anger over their marital problems and her professional breakdown comes to a head, when she notifies Frank that she wants to leave him, and that she implicitly has presidential dreams of her own.

 

Likely the best season up to this point, season 3 sees House of Cards climb to the highest level of quality TV drama, as the show now more or less halfway is really about a marriage under extraordinary pressure, - a stress that Kevin Spacey (Rebel in the Rye (2017)) and Robin Wright (Wonder Woman (2017)) portray with intense vigor. His final inability to tame her anger and ambitions in their negotiation-based sham of a marriage develops to a turbulent climax. The other half of the show is a wicked good political thriller of men (and women) who either stab each other's backs or help wash each other's hands clean.

The political maneuvers, if heightened, are narratively valid, relatively realistic and insightful in their devious machinations. Lars Mikkelsen (Headhunter (2009)) is outstanding as Petrov, a character loaded with Putin connotations. The development of the Underwood partnership also mirrors recent real-world politics, the Clintons, namely. Kim Dickens (Gone Girl (2014)) is another strong new cast addition as journalist Kate; and Paul Sparks (Waco (2018, miniseries)) is excellent as ghost writer Tom, whose polemic writings on the Underwoods cause him to be cast out of their home in episode 12. Although Michael Kelly (Chronicle (2012)) is fascinating as the eerie, plagued Doug Stamper character, the storyline involving Stamper, a hacker and the potentially damaging prostitute is continually mysterious and not the show's strongest in season 3, though over-all it is a very strong season.

 

Best episodes:

 

Episode 3: Chapter 29 - Written by Frank Pugliese (Shot in the Heart (2001, TV movie)), Laura Eason (Here and Now (2018)), Willimon; directed by Tucker Gates (Ray Donovan (2013-19))

Doug is working to secure a return to Frank's inner circle. Russian president Petrov visits the Underwoods at the White House for the first time.

 

Episode 5: Chapter 31 - Written by Kenneth Lin (My America (2012, TV-series)), Eason, Willimon; directed by James Foley (The Corruptor (1999))

Frank regains popularity around the 4th of July with his AmericaWorks initiative. Claire as new UN ambassador faces Russian intimidation.

 

Episode 6: Chapter 32 - Written by Melissa James Gibson (The Americans (2013-14)), Eason, Willimon; directed by Foley

The Underwoods travel to Russia, but the visit goes anything but smoothly.

Related posts:

 

Beau Willimon: House of Cards - season 2 (2014, VoD) - More ruthless power plays from Willimon and Co.

House of Cards - season 1 (2013, VoD) - Mean streaks at the sausage factory

The Ides of March (2011) - Clooney's political thriller looks at the cynical downside of modern politics (screenwriter; based on his play)

 

Watch a short teaser for the season here

 

Cost: Uncertain but reportedly around 55 mil. $

Box office: None - TV-series

= Uncertain, but considered a hit

[House of Cards - season 3 was released in full on 27 February on Netflix and runs approximately 663 minutes (13 episodes of around 51 minutes each). Shooting took place in from June - December 2014 in Maryland, including in Baltimore, New Mexico and in Washington DC. The third season reportedly cost 55 mil. $ to produce. Netflix regrettably do not report viewership numbers. The season was won 1/7 Emmy nominations and was nominated for a Golden Globe. IMDb's users have rated the TV-series in at #108 on the site's TV Top 250, sitting between Friday Night Lights (2006) and Berserk (1997). House of Cards returned with season 4 in 2016, also Willimon's return as writer/producer. In 2014 Kevin Spacey did not appear elsewhere prior to season 4; Wright in 2015 also starred in Everest. House of Cards - season 3 is certified fresh at 73 % with a 7.00/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of House of Cards - season 3?

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? 

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

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The poster for Hans Fabian Wullenweber's Cecilie

QUICK REVIEW:

Cecilie is an effective, Danish shocker, which draws heavily on several horror movies from the 10-15 years preceding it, but works, although without inventing anything new. An essentially trite horror flick as Cecilie isn't any better just because it's Danish.
Sonja Richter (The Woman Who Dreamed of a Man/Kvinden Der Drømte om en Mand (2010)) is good, and the film's cold look supplies goosebumps, and then there are some fairly good scenes: SPOILER The hypnosis scene and the youth party for example are not bad at all.
But still, though Cecilie works in some ways impeccably, it is far from sophistication.
It is directed by Roskilde-born director Hans Fabian Wullenweber (The Killing/Forbrydelsen (2007-12)) and scripted by Nikolaj Arcel and Rasmus Heisterberg.

Sonja Richter doesn't know who to trust, in Hans Fabian Wullenweber's Cecilie

Watch the trailer with English subtitles here

Budget: Unknown
Box office: Unknown
= Unknown

What do you think of Cecilie?
What's the best Danish horror movie you've seen?
And from the other Scandinavian countries?