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Paratroopers dropping from a plane mirror blood splatters on this otherwise starkly white poster for Julius Avery's Overlord
American paratroopers are dropped across a French countryside in a jumble of death and fire on the eve of D-Day (6th June 1944, WWII), and once safely on the ground they are tasked with blowing up a tower, - but a grim Nazi secret is awaiting them...
Overlord is written by Billy Ray (Volcano (1997)) and Mark L. Smith (Martyrs (2015)) and directed by Julius Avery (Son of a Gun (2014)).
It presents a graphic novel and video game reminiscent version of WWII with 'attitude'-prone soldiers, (anachronistically for the period their behavior curiously resemble 2010s age teenagers), who feel no visible consequences of any of the insane intimate experiences with death that they go through here.
Aside from these dubious character issues, the film is polished stylishly and bloody, with Nazi experiment monsters and a (politically correct for today) black hero. Overlord is a very basic, 'what-are-you-gonna-do-with-it' type of tiresome ultra-violence product.
Watch a trailer for the film here
Cost: 38 mil. $
Box office: 41.6 mil. $
= Huge flop (returned 1.09 times its cost)
[Overlord premiered 22 September (Fantastic Fest, USA) and runs 110 minutes. Shooting took place around May 2017 in England. The film opened #3, behind fellow new release The Grinch and holdover hit Bohemian Rhapsody, to a 10.2 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it fell out of the top 5 in its 2nd weekend and grossed 21.7 mil. $ (52.2 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Russia with 2 mil. $ (4.8 %) and the UK with 1.6 mil. $ (3.8 %). Avery returned with Samaritan (2022). Jovan Adepo (Fences (2016)) returned in 6 TV and voice performances prior to his theatrical return in The Violent Heart (2020). Overlord is certified fresh at 82 % with a 6.70/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
2Film Excess nominations: Best Lead Actor: Pilou Asbæk (lost to Stephen Dorff for Somewhere) Best Director: Tobias Lindholm, Michael Noer (lost to Sofia Coppola for Somewhere)
+ Best Prison Movie of the Year
The simple French poster for Tobias Lindholm and Michael Noer's R
Rune arrives to Horsens State Prison, where he gets humiliated and establishes himself as a drug-smuggler. SPOILER But he winds up in a jam and gets murdered as a result, which provokes great consequences for his co-conspirator Rashid.
R is the kind of feature debut that creates great respect; in this case to its great, Danish writer-director duo Tobias Lindholm (A War/Krigen (2015)) and Michael Noer (Key House Mirror/Nøgle Hus Spejl (2015)), who give an unexpected, tight and goosebumps-inflicting, crime-deterring prison film. R will inevitable foster reflection and debate about the prison as an institution and a (dubious) means of corrections.
Pilou Asbæk (Ben-Hur (2016)) is impressive as Rune/R. The film investigates the brutality and logic of violence in ahighly impressiveraw, docu-style manner.
Cost: 4.755 mil. DKK, equal to approximately 0.72 mil. $
Box office: Unknown
= Unknown (but likely a big flop)
[R premiered in sometime in January (International Film Festival Rotterdam) and runs 96 minutes. It was shot on location in Horsens State Prison. The film played at 15 film festivals around the world, winning a number of awards. 32,180 paid admission to see it in its native Denmark, - not an impressive number. Without foreign numbers, a definite theatrical status cannot be exacted, but if it more than doubled its gross outside of its native Denmark, it would still be a big flop. R won the Robert Award (Danish Oscar) for Best Danish Film of the Year as well as Bodil Awards (Danish critics' awards) for Best Film and Best Actor (Asbæk). R has a 7.2 IMDb average as rated by 3,406 users.]
The Danish poster for Pernille Fischer Christensen's A Family
The Rheinwald family's patriarch is well after a period of illness and remarries. But he then suddenly falls deadly ill again. His daughter's life plans consequently fall apart. - And what about the family bakery?
Eminent acting, particularly from Jesper Christensen (Casino Royale (2006)) and Lene Maria Christensen (Brothers/Brødre (2004)), enliven A Family. He is impressively authentic as a dying man, and that is at times hard to watch. But despite touching scenes, the film is flawed: As immature as all the characters are, (and they are really immature and at times gratingly idiotic), as immature seems the script: SPOILER The abortion is something we are meant to tacitly accept in that we are not exposed to the flushed out fetus, (although Pilou Asbæk (Game of Thrones (2016)) is.) And great co-writer/director Pernille Fischer Christensen (A Soap/En Soap (2006)), whose third feature this is, has stated that this film is a salute to life, which bugs me the wrong way in this context. She was obviously not, at this point in her career anyway, capable of making a serious film about death, which is what is attempted here. It also bothers me that she apparently doesn't see that all of the characters are almost obsessive in their tragically/idiotically poor choices in their behavior, reminiscent of the family we meet in the much superior Another Happy Day (2011). Christensen co-wrote with Kim Fupz Aakeson (Prague/Prag (2006)). A Family is not a bad film but it is a case of a might-have-been something else and better. Related review: Pernille Fischer Christensen: A Soap/En Soap (2006) - P. Christensen's great melodrama debut
Watch the German trailer for the film here
Cost: Approximately 2.4 mil. $ (16 mil. DKK) Box office: Unknown = Unknown (but likely a big to huge flop) [A Family premiered February 19 (Berlin International Film Festival) and runs 102 minutes. 128,488 paid admission to see the film in its native Denmark. It won the critics' prize in Berlin and was shown at seven dozen other festivals and in 4 other European countries. Depending on its performance in these countries, its status might be different, but I label it tentatively as a big flop. 1,023 IMDb users have given A Family a 6.7/10 average rating.] What do you think of A Family?
A simple yet powerful image provides the poster for Tobias Lindholm's A War
Krigen [the war] is the third feature from great Danish writer-director Tobias Lindholm (The Hunt/Jagten (2012), writer), by some referred to as the first real Danish war movie ever, because it contains scenes of Danish soldiers at war abroad, although this distinction is certainly up for debate. We follow a Danish commander of a military outfit in Afghanistan's Helmand-province, who is in charge of patrolling and attempting to aid the local populace. - A job that is difficult if not utterly impossible due to, especially, the Taliban's reign of terror over the Afghanis. Lindholm impressively triumphs once again here with A War, which is a very human portrayal of the Danish contribution in the Afghan War. A War is a strong and poignant film that works on several levels and carries its heart, - both for the soldiers as well as their families at home and for the civilian Afghanis affected by the war, - on its sleeve. A War makes it obvious that the mission in Afghanistan was usually one step forward and two steps back. This is disheartening but seems to have been a fact. It showcases different types of soldiers and locals and succeeds in letting them stand out as human beings as opposed to mere character types. A pattern is beginning to show in Lindholm's own films, (he has also scripted for several of the biggest Danish enterprises in film and TV in recent years.) His films, R: Hit First, Hit Hardest/R (2010), A Hijacking/Kapringen (2012) and now A War are all minimalistic portrayals of a Danish man played by Pilou Asbæk (Speed Walking/Kapgang (2014)), who might as well be simply called 'the Dane', because the particulars of his characters aren't all that important. What's important is what he goes through in the different films; a sentence in a Danish prison, a hijacking by Somalian pirates and here, the war in Afghanistan. All three films are tense, lean, realistic and well-crafted drama-thrillers with societal relevance. Lindholm's 'formula' clearly works. I'm all for each of these films. I wonder if perhaps he will venture something more personal to himself in a future film?
Pilou Asbæk, Tuva Novotny and Søren Malling in Tobias Lindholm's A War
A War also works, of course, because of its great performances: Asbæk is once again a commanding, sensitive lead, and Swedish Tuva Novotny (Eat Pray Love (2010)) also deserves praise for her vital, strong performance as his wife. Lindholm regulars Søren Malling (A Hijacking), Dar Salim (Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014)) and Dulfi Al-Jabouri (Northwest/Nordvest (2013)) give fine supporting performances, and Charlotte Munck (Shake Your Heart/En Kort En Lang (2001)) is sober and believable SPOILER as prosecutor, as the film turns into a courtroom drama in its second half. This development is quite well-observed and speaks to the consequences and long aftermath of any war. A War is accompanied by sparse, atmospheric music. Several of the soldiers in the film are played by actual Danish Afghanistan veterans, which only heightens the film's realism and integrity. They speak in military code, and much of what they say is unintelligible to the commoner. I also had trouble hearing the dialog in general, and as is often the case I wished that all movies were simply subtitled, so that it was possible to read what can't be heard, even when the language spoken is your own. A War is an honest and strong film, certainly among the best Danish films of the year. I give it a warm recommendation. Related posts: Tobias Lindholm: 2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
Cost: Unknown Box office: Unknown = Uncertainty [A War was produced by Nordisk Film and DR, with an 8 million DKR grant from the Danish Film Institute, filmed in Denmark, Turkey, Spain and Jordan and premiered at Venice International Film Festival. Its current admissions tally in Denmark stands at just 27k, far from success status.] What do you think of A War?
Evocative poster for Tobias Lindholm's A Hijacking
QUICK REVIEW:
A Danish cargo freighter is hijacked off the Somalian coast with 7 crew members. The negotiations to buy them free drag out. We especially follow the cook and the shipping company's CEO, who decides to lead the negotiations himself home in Denmark. Hijacking continues the realistic approach to a tense, uncomfortable situation that writer-director Tobias Lindholm developed in R: Hit First, Hit Hardest (2010) (with co-writer-director Michael Noer (Northwest (2013)), - in that film about getting imprisoned.)
Pilou Asbæk (right) is the crew cook, whom we follow, as he becomes a victim of modern pirating in Tobias Lindholm's A Hijacking
Hijacking is well-made and well-played by Pilou Asbæk (R), Roland Møller (R), Søren Malling (A Royal Affair (2012)) and Dar Salim (The Devil's Double (2011)). It is a docu-style dramatic issue thriller shot on location. A couple of times the air seems to be fizzing out of the narrative, but then the scene is quickly escalated instead. - Well done. Lindholm, - who also co-wrote the Oscar-nominated pedophilia drama thriller The Hunt (2012), - is writing at the moment, on a documentary entitled The Arms Drop (2014) and a war-drama feature again with Asbæk entitled April 9th (2015).
Watch the trailer with English subtitles here
Budget: Est. 2.7 mil. $ Box office: Unknown (US 0.4 mil. $) = Unknown
What do you think of A Hijacking? If you have seen the similar, recent, big Hollywood 'version', Captain Philips (2013), can you compare the two?
