Bamse (2022) - Genz, Berthelsen, Hansen and Co. triumph with terrific, heartwarming biopic

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Recalling the nationally beloved late singer with a large closeup of star Anders W. Berthelsen in character, the poster for Henrik Ruben Genz's Bamse

Flemming 'Bamse' Jørgensen and his band Bamses Venner [Teddy Bear's Friends] experience wild national popularity and a real low with international defeat over the course of several decades, while Bamse comes to terms with his own heritage.

 

Bamse is written by Bo Hr. Hansen (The Art of Crying/Kunsten at Græde i Kor (2006)) and co-writer/director, great Danish filmmaker Henrik Ruben Genz (Someone Like Hodder/En Som Hodder (2003)). The Danish title translates to 'teddy bear', the stage name for real-life singer/entertainer Flemming Jørgensen.

Hansen and Genz have a great grip on the story, SPOILER which is framed as one part a portrait of the musical life with its ups and downs and creations of songs that became major hits in Denmark, (humorous, happy songs of a sensual woman (Vimmersvej [Vimmer's Way]), a married woman seeking more excitement in life (Går Louise til Bal [Does Louise Go to the Ball]), and life and freedom (I en Lille Båd der Gynger [In a Little Boat that Rocks]), and one part a personal quest for paternal recognition and enlightenment as to Jørgensen's parentage as adopted from a poor family to that of a well-to-do company-owner's home as a small boy.

The simple story is told through strong characterizations, first of all from Anders W. Berthelsen (Italian for Beginners/Italiensk for Begyndere (2000)) in a career-best turn as Bamse. The physical transformation, achieved both through Berthelsen's weight-gain and acting and top-notch wig and prosthetics jobs, is incredible. Berthelsen acts with conviction, tremendous singing and the necessary, huge humanity that characterized the lovable teddy bear himself. Johanne Louise Schmidt (DNA (2019, TV-series)) is great as his loyal and loving home backbone, wife Käte; Henrik Birch (Grand Danois (2016, TV-series)) is spot on as Jørgensen's disapproving father; Signe Egholm Olsen (Into the Wild (2007)) is strong as one of Jørgensen's biological siblings; Lars Ranthe (A Funny Man/Dirch (2011)) is wonderful and very funny as the frank manager. And Anna Kristine Kulmback Prahl and Folke Olav Schriver give esteemed performances as Jørgensen's daughter Tine and as Jørgensen as a boy.

Well-produced and very well-told, the story gleams and shines with many very amusing lines and situations and as many or more that are deeply moving, as the film essentially portrays a decent, good man with a lovely family, as he becomes a great man and overcomes difficulties in his background. Don't miss Bamse!

 

Related post:

 

Henrik Ruben Genz: Terribly Happy/Frygtelig Lykkelig (2008) or, A Fix in Southern Jutland

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: Unknown, projected 30 mil. DKK, approximately 3.92 mil. $

Box office: Projected 37.3 mil. DKK and counting, approximately 4.87 mil. $ and counting

= Uncertain bit likely a big flop (projected current return of 1.24 times its cost)

[Bamse was released 25 August (Denmark) and runs 92 minutes. The budget is regrettably not made public but is projected at 30 mil. DKK. The film opened #1 in Denmark, where it was #1 for 5 straight weeks, selling 429,496 tickets to date. As the film plays in Biografklub Denmark ['cinema club Denmark'], where the approximately 200,000 members pay only half prize, around 180,000 tickets are projected at a low 55 DKK cost prize, with the rest at 110 DKK, coming to 37.3 mil. DKK gross currently, ranking the film a big flop. The film is not set to release in other markets currently. Genz does not have his next film announced yet. Berthelsen returns in Dansegarderoben (2023, TV-series) and does not have his next theatrical role announced yet. 302 IMDb users have given Bamse a 7.7/10 average rating.]

What do you think of Bamse?

Mighty Aphrodite (1995) - Sorvino soars in funny Allen dramedy

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A Greek-type title font, festive colors and a ridiculous still make up this poster for Woody Allen's Mighty Aphrodite

Lenny and his wife adopts a child, but as time passes Lenny is struck with curiosity as to the boy's biological heritage. By and by he learns that the mother is a porn actress, whom he now attempts to help.

Mighty Aphrodite is written and directed by New-Yorker master filmmaker Woody Allen (What's Up, Tiger Lilly? (1966)), whose 25th feature it is.

The film is an amusing piece of classic Allen for a while; not outstanding but okay. But as it continues it grows funnier, as Allen does his shtick and deals with an outstanding Mira Sorvino (Indiscretion (2016)) as the moving if unintelligent bimbo mother. Later Michael Rapaport (Tom Cool (2009)) is also terrific as a boxer/onion farmer, whom Allen tries to match Sorvino's character with. The idea of the Greek chorus, led by a wonderful F. Murray Abraham (Children of the Revolution (1996)), also grows funnier as time passes.

SPOILER Only Allen gets away with such a blatant Deux-ex-machina solution to his plot as in the ending of Mighty Aphrodite, as Sorvino is swept off her feet by a helicopter pilot. Mighty Aphrodite is a funny story and a warm film.

Related posts:
 
Woody Allen: 2016 in films - according to Film Excess

Café Society (2016) - The greatest living American filmmaker hands us another splendid gem

Irrational Man (2015) - Allen's pleasant morality tale divertisement

2014 in films - according to Film Excess

Magic in the Moonlight (2014) - Allen's irresistible French Riviera romance

2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
Blue Jasmine (2013) - Allen presenets Blanchett, a woman under the influence

Fading Gigolo (2013) - Turturro's pleasant turn as a high-end NY prostitute  (as actor)

To Rome with Love (2012) - Woody Allen's slightest film to date  

2011 in films - according to Film Excess

Midnight in Paris (2011) - Allen's zany (and a little depressing) crowd-pleaser  

Cassandra's Dream (2007) - Allen's well-laid but inconsequentiel English cul-de-sac  

Match Point (2005) - Allen takes London with pensive thriller hit 

2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

Top 10: The best big flop movies reviewed by Film Excess to date  
Anything Else (2003) - Perfect contemporary relationship comedy 

The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001) - Allen's hypnotic, noirish shenanigans 
Celebrity (1998) or, Stars in New York
Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) - Sin and guilt up for laughs and rumination in unspectacular Allen work 

Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) or, Manhattan Struggles and Wonders 
Broadyway Danny Rose (1984) or, Keep Your Heart   

Top 10: Best comedies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Annie Hall (1977) or, My Relationship with Alvie Singer   

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) (1972) - Allen's curious sex comedy is a riot
Bananas (1971) - Woody Allen's South American misadventure is still a barrel of laughs   
Casino Royale (1967) - The packed spy spoof frontrunner, a film very much of its time (as actor)

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 15 mil. $

Box office: 26 mil. $

= Big flop (returned 1.73 times its cost)

[Mighty Aphrodite premiered 1 September (Venice Film Festival) and runs 95 minutes. Sorvino reportedly auditioned in New York without getting the part. She then flew to the London audition and went in again, this time in full costume, and won the part. Shooting took place from October - December 1994 in New York, New Jersey and in Italy. The film opened #16 to a 326k $ first weekend in 19 theaters in North America, where it climbed to #11 and 278 theaters, grossing 6.4 mil. $ (24.6 % of the total gross). The film was nominated for 2 Oscars, winning for Best Supporting Actress (Sorvino), and losing Best Original Script to The Usual Suspects by Christopher McQuarrie. It was also nominated for a BAFTA and 2 David di Donatello awards, won a Golden Globe and 2 National Board of Review awards, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3.5/4 star review, translating to a notch over this one. Allen returned with Everyone Says I Love You (1996). As an actor he returned in The Sunshine Boys (1996, TV movie) and theatrically in Everyone Says I Love You; Sorvino in Beautiful Girls (1996). Mighty Aphrodite is fresh at 78 % with a 6.80/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Mighty Aphrodite?

One Child Nation (2019, documentary) - Wang and Zhang illuminate the Chinese mass infanticide

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A recreation of China's bountiful one-child policy propaganda that shows one of the hidden effects of its implementation screams loud on this poster for Nanfu Wang and Jialing Zhang's One Child Nation

In an effort to avoid mass hunger and provoke better life circumstances, China's effective 1979-2015 one-child policy was unique, but came with very tall human costs.

One Child Nation is a documentary by Chinese Americans Nanfu Wang (Hooligan Sparrow (2016, documentary) and Jialing Zhang (Complicit (2017, documentary)). Both were born in China during the one-child policy, and Wang is able to search out family members in her quest for answers. The film's strength is very attached to its personal relevance for the filmmakers. 
What is uncovered in One Child Nation is not completely shocking for those with prior insight into China's evil Communist system, but hearing the stories and seeing images and contemplating the massive scale of the effects, - at one point the forced abortions and baby killings are counted in the hundreds of millions, - is shocking nevertheless. Forced sterilizations of women, destruction of homes and arrests of those who violated the policy, as well as babies left to die - especially baby girls - as a normalized practice for decades, the one-child policy comes to stand as another pitch black era of inhumane evil in the already packed annals of death and horror in the 20th century.
One Child Nation follows its story to the adopted Chinese children in the US, who may not want to know about the truth of their heritage, and one person working for these connections regrets this towards the film's end. - But can you blame these individuals for not wanting to know about this unfathomable mass of abuse, terror, inhumanity and disempowerment that is China? People are only cogs in a machine in that most distasteful of countries.

Related post:

Nanfu Wang, Jialing Zhang: 2019 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

2019 in films - according to Film Excess

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: 271k $
= Uncertain
[One Child Nation premiered 26 January (Sundance Film Festival, Utah) and runs 89 minutes. Shooting took place in China and in Utah. The film opened #54 to a 20k $ first weekend in 2 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #40 and in 36 theaters (different weeks) and grossed 270k $. The only other market reported is the UK with 1k $. The film has screened at numerous festivals around the world, winning the documentary prize at Sundance, among other honors, with 3 more scheduled festivals for 2019, and it is a hot contender for the Best Documentary Oscar. Wang and Zhang have not announced their next project. One Child Nation is certified fresh at 99 % with an 8.44/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of One Child Nation?

Lion (2016) - An incredible true story brought to vivid, touching life

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+ Best Australian Movie of the Year

The young, fresh-faced stars cut through by en evocative photo of a rail track and a search engine bar adorn this poster for Garth Davis' Lion

Saroo is just a small boy, when he in 1986 gets lost from his family in India and winds up in a place he doesn't know and later gets adopted from there to Australia.

Lion is written by Luke Davies (Life (2015)), based on real-life Saroo Brierley's 2013 autobiography about his life, A Long Way Home, and directed by debuting great Australian filmmaker Garth Davis (Top of the Lake (2013, TV-series).
The first approximately 50 minutes of the film, which follows Saroo as a boy, are enormously captivating. Sunny Pawar (Love Sonia (2018)) is formidable as Saroo, and his brother and mother are also played convincingly. The momentum dives shortly, as we jump forward in time to Saroo as an adult, but it is soon picked up again, thanks to Dev Patel's (Slumdog Millionaire (2008)) deep-felt, strong performance. Rooney Mara (The Social Network (2010)) gives fine support, and Nicole Kidman (The Others (2001)) makes a statuesque mother figure here, SPOILER even in the somewhat strange scenes, in which she confesses to have had a vision as a 12 year-old, which told her that she would be adopting a brown child.
The score by Volker Bertelmann (Hotel Mumbai (2018)) and Dustin O'Halloran (Equals (2015)) is fantastic and adds to the simple force that drives the film. Was all of this not a true story, Lion might have been rejected. But it is a true and amazing story: Lion beats the more successful and comparable Slumdog Millionaire in quality and is perhaps the year's most touching film.

Related post:

Garth Davis: 2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 12 mil. $
Box office: 140.3 mil. $
= Mega-hit (returned 11.69 times the cost)
[Lion premiered 10 September (Toronto International Film Festival, Ontario) and runs 118 minutes. Shooting took place in India and Australia from January - May 2015. The film opened #32 to a 123k $ first weekend in 4 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #9 and in 1,802 cinemas (different weeks) and grossed 51.7 mil. $ (36.8 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Australia with 22.3 mil. $ (15.9 %) and the UK with 15.4 mil. $ (11 %). It became the 6th highest-grossing Australian film ever in Australia. The film was nominated for 6 Oscars: It lost Best Picture to Moonlight, Supporting Actor (Patel) to Mahershala Ali in Moonlight, Supporting Actress (Kidman) to Viola Davis in Fences, Adapted Screenplay to Barry Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney for Moonlight, Cinematography (Greig Fraser) to Linus Sandgren for La La Land, and Score to Justin Hurwitz also for La La Land. It was also nominated for 4 Golden Globes, won 2/5 BAFTA nominations, was nominated for a Grammy and several other honors. Novelist and critic Salman Rushdie publicly lauded the film. Davis returned with Mary Magdalene (2018). Patel returned in Hotel Mumbai (2018), Mara in The Discovery (2017), Kidman in How to Talk to Girls at Parties (2017), and David Wenham (Oranges and Sunshine (2010)) in Iron Fist (2017, TV-series) and theatrically in Beyond the Known World (2017). Lion is certified fresh at 85 % with a 7.3/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Lion?

Shoplifters/万引き家族 (Manbiki kazoku, 2018) - Kore-eda gives another poignant family tale

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+ Best Japanese Movie of the Year + Best Tokyo Movie of the Year

This happy poster for Hirokazu Kore-eda's Shoplifters seems to show an ideal family, but the film's title tells us that there is more to their story than meets the eye here

In a small house in Tokyo lives a ragtag 'family' of individuals who are not biologically connected but share each others' limited means, as they discover a little neglected and abused girl in the neighborhood, whom they decide to take in.

Shoplifters is the 13th film from Japanese master writer/director Hirokazu Kore-eda (Like Father, Like Son/Soshite chichi ni naru (2013)). It is a film which, like previous films from his hands, probes the fabrics that make a family a family. It also delves into some of the strategies that underclass people employ in order to make ends meet:
Lily Franky (After the Storm/Umi yori mo mada fukaku (2016))  is poignant as the 'father', who teaches his 'son' and new 'daughter' how to shoplift successfully. The young woman does striptease shows. The 'grandmother' (the late Kirin Kiki (Rage/Ikari (2016)) is a natural as the tough old bird) collects an indemnity and receives pity donations. And so on. But the sadness of their low plight is countered by the fact that they cling together and act as something like a real family. But as crises hit them that fabric is tested. SPOILER In the film's moving ending, we are shown how abandonment and neglect are poison to family relations, and how family breaks create wounds that run deep. SPOILER On the more optimistic side, Shoplifters leaves the little girl back with her poorly equipped biological mother but implicitly shows us that the time spent in an actual, loving environment stays with the girl, who is tough and will likely make it.
Kore-eda's humdrum pace is laced with moments of intimacy, humor, confusion and pain, as he brings several complex relationships together in this fine, intelligent, compassionate, humanistic film. 

Related posts:
 
Hirokazu Koreeda: 2018 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2018 in films - according to Film Excess
2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
After the Storm/海よりもまだ深く (Umi yori mo Mada Fukaku) (2016) - Koreeda's striking portrayal of a disappointing man
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV] 
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
Like Father, Like Son/そして父になる (Soshite Chichi ni Naru) (2013) - Koreeda's magnificent reflection on upbringing and family  

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: In excess of 55.1 mil. $
= Uncertain, but most likely a huge hit
[Shoplifters premiered 13 May (Cannes Film Festival, France, in competition) and runs 121 minutes. Kore-eda developed the story during his making of masterpiece Like Father, Like Son (2013). Shooting took place in Japan, including Tokyo, from December 2017 - ?. The film won the main prize, the Palm d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival under jury president Cate Blanchett. Its biggest markets have been its production country Japan with 37.8 mil. $ (68.6 % of the total gross), making it one of the highest-grossing domestic releases there for the year, China with 14 mil. $ (25.4 %) and South Korea with 1.2 mil. $ (2.2 %). Several markets' grosses are not listed on the film's Box Office Mojo sheet yet, and it has yet to open in several markets: 22 Nov. (Portugal), 23 Nov. (UK, Ireland, US), 12 Dec. (France), 13 Dec. (Holland), 21 Dec. (Sweden), 27 Dec. (Germany), 3 Jan. (Brazil), 10 Jan. (Hungary), 18 Jan. (Turkey) and 7 Feb. (Argentina). More countries may be added. If made on a realistic 7 mil. $ budget, which may be set too high, the film would have made back already 7.87 times its cost. It has been chosen as Japan's official Oscar entry for the year. Kore-eda returns with The Truth (2019), his first non-Japanese film, starring Ethan Hawke, Juliette Binoche and Catherine Deneuve. Franky returned in The Gun/Jû (2018). Shoplifters is certified fresh at 98 % with an 8.8/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Shoplifters?

Philomena (2013) - Dench astounds in Frears' powerful true-story drama

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+ Best True-Story Movie of the Year

+ Best English Movie of the Year

 

The posters for Stephen Frears' Philomena didn't catch my interest, as they seem rather bland and certainly don't relate the actual power of the film, in my opinion

 

Martin has been fired from his political job and looks for a story for a book, when one happens to fall into his lap: Ageing Philomena had her bastard child taken from her by nuns 50 years ago.

As noted above, the Philomena posters don't relate the film's narrative power, which is clear all the way through Jeff Pope (The Place of the Dead (1997, TVM) and Steve Coogan's (The Parole Officer (2001)) Oscar-nominated, excellent adapted script, based on Coogan's character Martin Sixsmith's (Putin's Oil (2010)) 2009 book, The Lost Child of Philomena Lee. The film is directed by English master filmmaker Stephen Frears (Florence Foster Jenkins (2016)) in exemplary fashion; it plays our emotional chords as a violin with great command throughout.

Philomena is technically astute, with an outstanding score by Alexandre Desplat (Reality (2012)). Coogan and Judi Dench (The World Is Not Enough (1999)) illuminate the screen as few can and both stand out as completely real characters while also often being downright hilarious. Dench has never been better than here and is really something of a miracle. All the secondary characters are ideally cast.

Philomena is among the year's best, a rare gem that I can't recommend enough.

 

Related posts:

 

Top 10: Best UK movies reviewed by Film Excess to date

2013 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED VI] 

2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]

2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]

2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 12 mil. $

Box office: 100.1 mil. $

= Huge hit

[Philomena premiered August 31 (Venice International Film Festival) and runs 98 minutes. Filming took place in Maryland, Washington D.C., England and Northern Ireland from October 2012 - January 2013. The film only takes minor artistic licenses in its relation of the true story. It opened #28 in 4 theaters with 128k $ and peaked at #8 in 835 theaters in North America, where it grossed 37.7 mil. $ (37.6 % of the total gross). Its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 18.4 mil. $ (18.4 %) and Australia with 10.1 mil. $ (10.1 %). The film was nominated for 4 Oscars: For Best Picture (lost to 12 Years a Slave), Actress (Dench) (lost to Cate Blanchett for Blue Jasmine), Adapted Screenplay (lost to 12 Years a Slave) and Score (lost to Gravity). It was also nominated for 3 Golden Globes and 4 BAFTAs. Philomena is certified fresh at 92 % with a 7.8 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Philomena?