Mørkeland (2024) - Good elements, wrong plot in botched political thriller sequel

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Star Anders W. Berthelsen photoshopped in on some non-existing stairs in front of Denmark's parliament on the poster for Mikkel Serup's Mørkeland

Following several years of unemployment, journalist Ulrik Torp gets an internship at his old workplace, a national Danish newspaper. He is tasked with an assassination story that seems to have implications involving the ongoing general election...

Mørkeland is written by Marie Østerbye (Player (2013)), adapting the same-titled 2019 novel by Niels Krause-Kjær (Tilskueren (2004)), and directed by Mikkel Serup (Klassefesten 2: Begravelsen (2014)). It is the sequel to Nikolaj Arcel's great thriller King's Game/Kongekabale (2004), which was also a Krause-Kjær adaptation. The title translates to 'darkland'.

The novelist has finished two books more since 2019's Mørkeland, and one wonders as a spectator if this film took too long to get made, or was the wrong novel to adapt to begin with, because in any case it comes out as somewhat redundant in today's post-COVID, Ukraine War beset Europe. Denmark's political scandals in the last several years have revolved around its overly powerful, self-governed prime minister and her even less rationally controlled, (sometimes dangerously out-of-control) chief of staff and close friend, that are the very center of Denmark's democratic power. Yet in Mørkeland's alternate universe the threat for most of the film is a tiny right-wing party that struggles to get past the 2 % support barrier to actually obtain MPs, - we are never introduced to any of the more central politicians of the country's election race, - and in fact everything somehow revolves around this tiny, insignificant party. This is an odd plot-line that may have been partly relevant - before the Trump presidency, COVID and several other things happened.

Anders W. Berthelsen (Ditte & Louise (2018)) is back as Torp, with more skin flaps and larger old-man ears, a few more pounds, an actor positively freed from glamouring himself up with procedures and fitness torture, (it is appreciated!), and his journalist look is still very much spot-on. The surrounding cast is competent but that's about it, as their characters are mostly drained of the juice that is wit, humor or personality. There are neat exterior shots of traffic in motion and the film's thriller score (by the completely unknown trio Elvin Matz, Aramis Silvereke and Alexander Weslund (Houseplants, short (2023, all))) is perhaps its best component. Did these three actually make this score? In the age of AI, one is naturally suspicious.

SPOILER The movie's surprise twist is that the real villains are really (deep state) mainstream thinkers (including ex-intelligence agents) who believe they better quell the electorate's right-wing leanings and secure EU stability. Real-world Denmark has had vocal, big right-wing parties with power for decades, so this fantasy seems more than a bit far-fetched. And the relevant political scandals of much bigger proportions (that could have been tackled) are standing in a very long line around the block. 

Mørkeland, in short, shrinks compared to King's Game. But the execution isn't terrible.

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: Unknown, projected 30 mil. DKK

Box office: 11.5 mil. DKK and counting

= Too early to say

[Mørkeland was released 22 August (Denmark) and runs 99 minutes. The film has been #1 for 2 weekends in Denmark and sold 137k tickets so far, but it plays in Biografklub Danmark/'cinema club Denmark', meaning that at least half the tickets are sold at half prize. It opens in Sweden, its only slated foreign market, 13 September. Serup does not have his next film announced yet. Berthelsen returns in Børnene fra Sølvgade (2024). 160 IMDb users have given Mørkeland a 6.3/10 average rating.]

What do you think of Mørkeland?

Fuglekrigen i Kanøfleskoven (1990) or, Every Bird for Himself

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Birds in a dark environment play music and dance (with rats), while an ominous vulture readies to feed on them on this poster for Jannik Hastrup's Fuglekrigen i Kanøfleskoven

A young bird in the forest called Oliver gets a good friend and later girlfriend in fellow bird Olivia, and they stage a united front against the vulture tyrant of the forest, Fagin. - But precious few will help them.

Fuglekrigen i Kanøfleskoven is written by Bent Haller (Dreaming of Paradise/Strit og Stumme (1987)), based on his own children's book Fuglekrigen (1979), and directed by great Danish filmmaker Jannik Hastrup (Sandheden (1964)). The original Danish title translates to, 'the bird war in the reproach forest'.
It is a fairly typical Haller-Hastrup collaboration, which pushes the view that people are stupid and ignorant, and that adults aren't much help but are often selfish and/or downright malicious.
Two mice from Hastrup's popular Cirkeline (1967-70) animation get dragged into the story, and this is one of those films were developments seem to be invented primarily as a means to boost the running time.
Tommy Kenter's (Chop Chop/Fukssvansen (2001)) voice performance as the owl, which was inspired by W.C. Fields, is one of the best things in the film, but Ove Sprogøe (Kurt og Valde (1983)) and Anne Marie Helger (Jungledyret Hugo (2003, TV-series)) as the two magpies are also funny.
Fuglekrigen i Kanøfleskoven is singular and out-spoken but in no way deep or inspired exactly, and the animation isn't beautiful or original.

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 12 mil. DKK, approximately 2 mil. $
Box office: Unknown
= Uncertain
[Fuglekrigen i Kanøfleskoven was released 28 September (Denmark) and runs 68 minutes. No box office information is made available, regrettably, though the Danish Film Institute, (one of the production companies behind the film), called it a "big audience success" in its primary production company Denmark, and also inform that the film was distributed with 80 and 40 copies made, respectively, for the German and French market. The film was also released in Iceland, Sweden, Japan, Finland and the Netherlands. It won the Best Film for the Youth award in Cannes 1990. 30 seconds of profanity was cut out for a North-American release of the film, which never came to fruition. It won a Robert award (Denmark's Oscar) for Best Sound. Hastrup returned with 3 shorts and theatrically with Aberne og det Hemmelige Våben (1995). 711 IMDb users have given Fuglekrigen i Kanøfleskoven a 7.3/10 average rating.]

What do you think of Fuglekrigen i Kanøfleskoven?

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

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+ Best Shooting Star Actor of the Year: Esben Smed

The sensational romance at the film's heart is the center for this erotic poster for Bille August's A Fortunate Man

Peter Andreas is a young man with an uncommon drive, ambition and contempt for his Christian family, as he takes a small room in Copenhagen in the late 19th century and intensifies his engineer studies, pushing forth a revolutionary project for Jutland.

A Fortunate Man is written by Anders Frithiof August (Key House Mirror/Nøgle Hus Spejl (2015)) and Danish master co-writer/director (and father of his co-writer), Bille August (Pelle the Conqueror/Pelle Erobreren (1987)), adapting the 8 (!) classic, semi-autobiographical Lykke-Per novels (1898-1904) from Henrik Pontoppidan (De Dødes Rige I-II (1917).
A Fortunate Man is a marvelous experience for someone with a penchant for grand period dramas and 19th century adaptations. The production is exquisite, never boastful but impressive and lovely in its portrayal of old Copenhagen, the Danish countrysides as well as trips to Austria and Germany. Falling into this world of yore is a treat.
Esben Smed (Denmark 92/Sommeren '92 (2015)) leads the film impressively. He is great as the complex Peter, whose surroundings name him 'Lykke-Per', meaning a fortune-seeker, a man who is led by his towering ambitions, ruthlessness and arrogance. He is also, perhaps, and at least in his own mind, a genius. And a very handsome character in Smed's figure. He succeeds in making Peter's rise and fall seem probable and natural.
Surrounding Smed is an ensemble of fine Danish actors: Especially joyous is it to have funny-men Tommy Kenter (The Passion of Marie/Marie Krøyer (2012)) and Rasmus Bjerg (Nothing's All Bad/Smukke Mennesker (2010)) in serious roles as patriarchs stunted by youthful passion, but also Elsebeth Steentoft (Small Town Killers/Dræberne fra Nibe (2017)) is formidable as Peter's mother. Good performances also flow from Julie Christiansen (While We Live/Mens Vi Lever (2017)), Tammi Øst (The Woman Who Dreamed About a Man/Kvinden Der Drømte Om en Mand (2010)), Claus Flygare (Danny's Doomsday/Dannys Dommedag (2014)), Jens Albinus (Portland (1996)), Paul Hüttel (1864 (2014), miniseries) and Katrine Rosenthal (Kursk (2018)) SPOILER as the tremendously big-hearted, intelligent Jewish Jacobe, whom Peter seduces and later ditches, when his immature focus shifts back to his Jutlandic roots.
The film is sometimes funny, involving and romantic, SPOILER but it loses its shape, as Peter makes his radical move away from Copenhagen and his betrothed, who, unknown to him, is carrying his child. A Fortunate Man has epic length, but it feels more like a miniseries, as this shift occurs at such a natural place to end a long and fine film. Indeed A Fortunate Man is also envisioned to serve as an elongated miniseries on Danish TV shortly after its theatrical release, and this commercially dictated logic, which broadens the audience and therefore the revenue for the project, doesn't serve the film well. Unfamiliar with Pontoppidan's novels, A Fortunate Man's last act makes us very aware that the story is vast, and that August's wrapping up of it is somewhat haphazard.
SPOILER Peter starts a family in Jutland and abandons them in favor of strange solitude, while managing to gather considerable funds, (we don't learn exactly how.) Smed's attractive, boyish looks also clash somewhat with his seemingly having become much older.
A Fortunate Man is a fine film and treat, not least for Danes, but it should have been a two-parted film, and it is the latter part of the story that seems raced through here, as August speeds up to get to the finishing drone shot of Peter, alone and awaiting death in the 
Jutlandic heath landscape.

Related posts:

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

 Watch a trailer for the film here, without English subtitles regrettably

Cost: 55 mil. DKK, approximately 8.6 mil. $
Box office: Unknown - but likely not exceeding 20 mil. DKK yet
= Still uncertain - but so far a theatrical mega-flop
[A Fortunate Man premiered 20 August (Jutland, Denmark) and runs 162 minutes. A newly formed Public Service fund supported the production with 22 mil. DKK. 1 mil. DKK came from Den Vestdanske Filmpulje, requiring some shooting to take place in Fyen. Shooting took place in Denmark, including Copenhagen, and in Austria. The film has been well received in its production country Denmark, where 218k have paid admission to it so far. Unfortunately the film is part of 'Biografklub Danmark', which means that a large portion of the audiences pay only half price for admission. The miniseries version is to be shown on Danish TV2 at a later date. The film is shortlisted as one of three candidates to become the Danish Oscar bid of the year. August is set to return with Danish-Italian The Emperor of Dreams: Gianni Versace and Belgian A War of Their Own, both only announced. Smed returns in Ditte & Louise (2018), Rosenthal in Kursk (2018). 235 IMDb users have given A Fortunate Man a 7.8/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of A Fortunate Man?

How to Get Rid of the Others/Hvordan Vi Slipper Af med De Andre (2007) - A generally awful Danish surreal comedy turkey

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A hit list of society's unwanted, a helicopter carrying a disabled person in a harness and two well-known Danish actors line up on this game poster for Anders Rønnow Klarlund's How to Get Rid of the Others

A new military law has taken effect in the kingdom of Denmark, which demands that citizens who are mainly an expense for the country and don't contribute beneficially at all are executed.

How to Get Rid of the Others is written by the also co-starring Rasmus Botoft (The Gift/Gaven (2008)) and co-writer/director Anders Rønnow Klarlund (Strings (2004)).
What little amount of fun there is to be had with this surreal satirical comedy, - which comes from veteran actors Søren Pilmark (The Last King/Birkebeinerne (2016)) and Tommy Kenter (Skibet i Skilteskoven (1992), TV-series) and the grotesque content, - pales in the context of a fatal combination of the dialog and script in general, acting (apart from the two mentioned actors) and photography - all of very poor quality. Klarlund perhaps tries to compensate by making the film very loud, full of screaming and yelling, but it helps naught: This very expletive-heavy concoction fails miserably.
The point to a big African element in the plot, - along with possibly other points which the obtuse creator duo had envisioned, - are lost in a case of a simply botched job here. How to Get Rid of the Others is a strange morass.

Related post:

2007 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2007 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Unclear, - perhaps 7.3 mil. DKK, (7,300 DKK is reported on IMDb, which must be a mistake and likely should have been 7,300,000 DKK), or approximately 1.15 mil. $
Box office: Unknown - but seemingly only around 1.2 mil. DKK, or approximately 0.19 mil. $
= Uncertain - but likely a box office disaster (seemingly returned approximately 0.16 times the cost)
[How to Get Rid of the Others premiered 26 January (Denmark) and runs 94 minutes. It was shot in Nørrebro, Copenhagen, Denmark. It sold 13,855 tickets in its production country Denmark, which only makes up a gross of around 1.2 mil. DKK. It was released in 5 other markets, 3 of which were only at festivals. No information on its performance there is available. It was nominated for 2 Robert awards (Denmark's Oscar). Klarlund returned with The Secret Society of Fine Arts (2012), an experimental still-photo-based film, which is the filmmaker's last to date. Pilmark returned in The Taste of Hair/De Kaldte Os Frisører (2007, short), Mr. Poxycat & Co. (2007, TV-series) and theatrically in The Early Years: Erik Nietzsche Part 1/De Unge År: Erik Nietzsche Sagaen Del 1 (2007). 980 IMDb users have given How to Get Rid of the Others a 6.0/10 average rating.]

What do you think of How to Get Rid of the Others?

The Boy Who Wanted to Be a Bear/Drengen Der Ville Gøre det Umulige/The Boy Who Wanted to Do the Impossible (2002) - Hastrup hits the bull's eye with breathtaking Greenlandic adventure

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+ Best Animation of the Year + Best Box Office Disaster of the Year +  Best Danish Movie of the Year + Best Family Movie of the Year 

The inviting, neat poster for Jannik Hastrup's The Boy Who Wanted to Be a Bear

QUICK REVIEW:

The Boy Who Wanted to Be a Bear is a modern highlight in Danish animation.

A Greenlandic baby is taken by a polar bear, who is looking for a replacement for her own lost cub. The boy is raised as a bear and later experiences an identity crisis, for what is he really?

One quickly overcomes viewing the animation style of Bear as somewhat staccato and float happily into the beautiful, inspired universe full of fresh colors and white created for the film, which feels like getting to really visit Greenland.
The film has an exciting story with a mythical richness, high stakes and a strong, touching ending. There are also really good voice work, (this review is based on the original Danish version.) Particularly Tommy Kenter (Chop Chop/Fukssvansen (2001)) is funny and liberating as the raven, and Paprika Steen (The Substitute/Vikaren (2007)) is good as the human mother.
Bear is a super fairy-tale-like adventure with a simple animation design that hits the spot. It also does a good job of incorporating digital three-dimensional effects to especially dramatic moments.
A couple of minor reservations: In one scene involving danger, the landscape changes too noticeably back and forth. And some of the playful/romantic scenes are a bit tame.
The original Danish title (Drengen Der Ville Gøre det Umulige) translates to 'the boy who wanted to do the impossible' , (which was the UK title as well.) The film is written by Bent Haller (The Secret Weapon/Aberne og det Hemmelige Våben (1995)) and Michel Fessler (Man to Man (2005)) and directed by the great Danish animation filmmaker Jannik Hastrup (Benny's Bathtub/Bennys Badekar (1971), short).

Related review:

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

Benny's Bathtub/Bennys Badekar (1971, short) - A boy's fantasy adventure in Danish animation classic

Watch the Danish trailer for the film here, (unfortunately without English subtitles)

Cost: 33 mil. DKK, equal to approximately 5 mil. $
Box office: Unknown
= Unknown
[The Boy Who Wanted to Be a Bear was released December 18 and runs 75 minutes. It was Haller's biggest movie to date, a Danish-French-Norwegian co-production, which is also the reportedly first film ever to receive a Greenlandic voice version, which was finished about a year after the film's initial release. The film reportedly got 65,700 admissions in its native Denmark, (Greenland is a part of the Danish kingdom), which is far from hit status there. However without numbers from other countries, - the film has also been shown at, and received praise and prizes at several festivals, - it is impossible to say whether it became profitable theatrically, although it is unlikely. 754 users have rated the The Boy Who Wanted to Be a Bear 3.1/5 at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Boy Who Wanted to Be a Bear?

Chop Chop/Fukssvansen (2001) - Oplev's Danish crazy-comedy

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The colorful poster for Niels Arden Oplev's Chop Chop

Chop Chop is the second feature by Danish co-writer-director Niels Arden Oplev (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo/Mænd Der Hader Kvinder (2009)) after his crime drama Portland (1996), which also starred Anders W. Berthelsen (King's Game/Kongespil (2004)).

Two brothers, one slightly retarded, the other indebted to a dubious druggie who boards with them until he can collect, live together in their rural childhood home, as a mysterious woman enters their lives, and macabre mishaps begin turning everything around for them.

The original title of the film is an archaic Danish word for 'saw'. - The key conflict of the movie arises because the brothers loan their neighbor's saw.  
Chop Chop is very much a Danish crazy-comedy, which therefore may seem a bit esoteric to outsiders (non-Danes that is), although the DVD I've acquired at least has English subtitles.
The film lends space for some really hilarious Danish actors to go all out with some outrageous characters: Especially secondaries Tommy Kenter (Otto the Rhino (2013), voice) and Birthe Neumann (The Celebration/Festen (1998)) are uproarious as the semi-fascist spying neighbor and his timid housewife. Thomas Bo Larsen (The Hunt/Jagten (2012)) also provides some laughs, often due to his physicality in his acting the part of the ill-fated Finn.

Thomas Bo Larsen with the title 'fukssvans' [saw] in Niels Arden Oplev's Chop Chop

The details:

The movie references Jaws (1975) and Apocalypse Now (1979), but generally, its script (by Oplev and Håkan Lindhé (Family Secrets/Familjehemligheter (2001)) is heavy-handed and lacks upwards motion. Music motifs are over-used and so are catchphrases. The film lacks material. And it doesn't help that Oplev has chosen to use cutting ploys that invoke sit-coms. - The film is already slight.
It also seems to suffer under a budget that's just too small: Boring score music is made up, where original songs were called for; the ending should without question SPOILER have seen the brothers' home getting blown up, but isn't, etc. etc. The photography is nothing to write home about (by Lars Vestergaard (We Shall Overcome/Drømmen (2006)), and the (unsubtle over)lighting is just bad.
Chop Chop is amusing (probably especially to Danes), but it also isn't smart enough to really score, and it has the mark of 'learning picture' written all over it. - Which it probably was for Oplev, who experienced much bigger success later on in his career: After Dragon Tattoo, he was invited to make Dead Man Down (2013), a Hollywood actioner that totally flopped, so he returned home after that to make the more successful (and homely) Speed Walking/Kapgang (2014).

Related review:

Niels Arden Oplev: Speed Walking/Kapgang (2014) - Funny and sweetly nostalgic 70s coming-of-age in rural Denmark
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo/Män Som Hatar Kvinnor (2009) - An exciting adult ride in sadism and mystery from cold cold Sweden

Martin Buch and Anders W. Berthelsen before their home in Niels Arden Oplev's Chop Chop

The trailer for the film is available here, with Spanish subtitles

Cost: Unknown
Box office: Unknown
= Unknown
[But most likely a flop. The film couldn't have faired well outside of Denmark, if it even had theatrical premieres anywhere outside the small Scandinavian country. There, just over 100k people paid admission to see it, which isn't considered a hit (that would be more like at least 250k). The film won one Bodil and two Robert awards (Danish film awards). - 2001 was a weak year in Danish film.]

What do you think of Chop Chop?