Key House Mirror/Nøgle Hus Spejl (2015) - Nørby elevates grim dementia-themed drama

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A beautiful romantic still on a Copenhagen rooftop with natural backlight is doubled on this poster for Michael Noer's Key House Mirror

 

Lily has moved into a nursing home with her husband of more than 50 years, who has turned into an immobile vegetable. But she doesn't require care, and her continued zest for life leads her to a new romantic acquaintance.

 

Key House Mirror is written by Anders Frithiof August (A Fortunate Man/Lykke-Per (2018)) and great Danish filmmaker, co-writer/director Michael Noer (R/R: Hit First, Hit Hardest (2010)). The title is a literal translation of the original Danish title.

The film takes a tit for tat approach to the third age, which makes it hard to enjoy, as the nursing home as life's last stop-over looks like an individual-suffocating death prison of human disintegration.

Ghita Nørby (Den Stundesløse (1973, TV movie)) lifts the film considerably and is outstanding, impressively bereft of vanity and fully credible in a generous, very commendable performance. Sven Wollter (A Song for Martin/En Sång för Martin (2001)) is warm as her Swedish nursing home boyfriend, but Key House Mirror lacks something unexpected: The plot moves forward in a way that is too predictable, and the scenes with Trine Pallesen's (Tempelriddernes Skat II (2007)) daughter character and her family are a drag in their cold predictability. Key House Mirror may be called a grim watch, as it acknowledges that mostly everything is ugly and horrible.

 

Related posts:

 

Michael Noer: Northwest/Nordvest (2013) - Strong performances make Noer's underwritten crime thriller work

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

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

 

R/R: Hit First, Hit Hardest (2010) or, Prison Ain't Nice 

 

 

Watch a behind-the-scenes clip from the making of the film

 

Cost: Unknown

Box office: In excess of 1.09 mil. $

= Uncertain but likely a mega-flop (projected return of 0.42 times its cost)

[Key House Mirror premiered 23 January (Göteborg Film Festival) and runs 91 minutes. The film sold 94,423 tickets in Denmark, at an average 87 DKK ticket prize coming to approximately 1.09 mil. $. The film was also released in Germany, Sweden and France, but with unreported (likely small) gross numbers. If made on a realistic 3.5 mil. $ budget and with a 1.5 mil. $ final gross, the film would rank as a mega-flop. The film was nominated for 4 Robert awards (Denmark's Oscar), among other honors. Noer returned with Papillon (2017). Nørby returned in Dagny (2016, short), Lux Aeterna (2017, short) and theatrically in Before the Frost/Før Frosten (2018); Wollter in Odd & Maud (2016, short) and theatrically in Solsidan (2017). 508 IMDb users have given Key House Mirror a 6.9/10 average rating.]

 

What do you think of Key House Mirror? 

The Father (2020) or, Disintegration

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Critical hype is the background to an intimate moment between the father-daughter pair on this poster for Florian Zeller's The Father

Anthony is an old man who was recently moved in with his daughter in an arrangement that doesn't really relieve either party, as he is going through the process of escalating dementia.

 

The Father is written by Christopher Hampton (The Quiet American (2002)) and debuting co-writer/director Florian Zeller (Empreintes (2010, TV documentary), adapting his own 2012 play La Père ('the father').

It is the latest in the 'star-actor-gets-Alzheimers/dementia' drama subgenre, and certainly an eloquent, - visually and narratively, - new work in this tradition. Narratively the novelty here is that Zeller has different actors portray the same characters, reflecting for us the confusion and inability to remember faces that a person with dementia experiences. This is an effective and highly unpleasant feature of The Father.

Anthony Hopkins (The Dawning (1988)) is on fire here in a tragic role that also lays bare how mood-swings and rudeness can be regular companions for the person with dementia, whose self is in a process of complete disintegration. Olivia Colman (The Lobster (2015)) is moving and dignified as his hurting, accommodating daughter.

Watching The Father is an awful ordeal. It is well-acted and well-made but a colossal downer, though probably rightfully so. Nevertheless I don't expect I will need to revisit this one in the future.

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 6 mil. $

Box office: 13.4 mil. $ and counting

= Uncertain - at the moment ranks as a flop but could improve status

[The Father premiered 27 January (Sundance Film Festival) and runs 97 minutes. No less than 11 companies were involved with the financing and production of the film. Shooting took place in London, England. The film's release was greatly inhibited by the China Virus pandemic. It opened #8 in 865 theaters to a 433k $ first weekend in North America, where it never attained a higher rank and grossed 2.1 mil. $. Currently North America was its 3rd biggest market, with Australia (2.3 mil. $) and France (2.2 mil. $) being the biggest and 2nd biggest. But the film is still only now rolling out in several markets: 15 June Columbia; 19 June China; 24 June Slovakia; 20 August Sweden; 26 August Germany and the Netherlands. The film was nominated for 6 Oscars, winning 2: For Best Actor (Hopkins) and Adapted Screenplay. It lost Best Picture to Nomadland, Supporting Actress (Colman) to Yuh-Jung Youn in Minari, Editing to Sound of Metal and Production Design to Mank. It won 2/6 BAFTA nominations, was nominated for 4 Golden Globes and several other honors. IMDb's users have rated the film in at #105 on the site's Top 250 list, sitting between The Kid (1921) and Full Metal Jacket (1987). Zeller returns with The Son, another adaptation of a play of his. Hopkins returned in Elyse (2020); Colman in 6 TV and voicing projects and is set to return physically and theatrically in Mothering Sunday (2021). The Father is certified fresh at 98 % with an 8.70/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of The Father?

Falling (2020) - Mortensen debuts with precious, personal drama

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+ Best Drama of the Year  

 

A little boy by his father, back from hunting, holding a dead duck in his hands, make up this evocative poster for Viggo Mortensen's Falling

 

A middle-aged gay man is taking his old father with him from his primitive farm home back to his own in California, because the old man is suffering from dementia and cancer. But the father's enmity strikes up conflict and old memories.

 

Falling is written and directed by Viggo Mortensen (Ruby Cairo (1992, actor)), one of the best actors of our time, who debuts with it and also co-stars and has composed the film's unnoticeable score. He dedicated the film to his brothers, and it is somewhat based on dynamics and situations from their own family, and his experiences with both of his parents suffering from dementia.

Mortensen is a graceful, incredibly forgiving and patient good son to his difficult father in the film, played with much verve by Lance Henriksen (Dorothy and the Witches of Oz (2012)), a man whose slipping into dementia also finds him forgetting basic social limits to speech and behavior, but especially his speech which is continuously vulgar, unrestrained and offensive. The film confronts us with the fact that certain prejudices may go out of control and out of the mouth of someone with this sad disease, and Falling makes it both grueling and sometimes funny to witness these intense lashing-outs.

Sverrir Gudnason (Borg vs. McEnroe (2017)) is forceful as the younger version of Henriksen, a compelling, masculine man who is nevertheless twice unsuccessful in his major relationships with women. The film indicates this is due to his tyrannical side and unwillingness to compromise and show care, but it doesn't spell out the marriages and their falls for us. Laura Linney (The Nanny Diaries (2007)) shows up in a long, good scene as Mortensen's sister. Terry Chen (Continuum (2012-15)) is good as Mortensen's husband, and Gabby Velis is very sweet as their adopted daughter Monica.

Though a veteran actor and gifted multi-hyphenate, Mortensen is on new ground here as a director, and he charges a layered and difficult drama with personal stakes and admirable guts. Falling is not a plot-driven film; it goes sideways a little here, a little there, but the performances and material, - and the constant feeling of a thoughtful artist behind it all, - makes it compelling still. It is a far cry from the polished feel that made Mortensen's recent turn in super-success Green Book (2018) a global crowd-pleaser. But it grapples with real life and issues with tenacity and boldness, and it feels incredibly authentic. Don't miss it, if it's in a cinema near you.

 

Related posts:

 

Viggo Mortensen: 2020 in films - according to Film Excess

The day after the day after ... the 2019 Oscars 

Oscars 2019: Predictions and Film Excess' favorites 

Green Book (2018) - P. Farrelly and a pair of great actors make racial drama thrive with comedic fuel (co-star)

The day after ... the Oscars 2017 

Oscars 2017: Predictions and Film Excess' favorites 

Captain Fantastic (2016) - Ross' riveting film of fatherhood is a powerful must-see (star)

The Two Faces of January (2014) - Amini's debut is a delicious but slight Greek period adaptation (co-star)

On the Road (2012) - Salles' near-perfect adaptation (co-star)

A Dangerous Method (2011) - Cronenberg's rather disappointing waltz with the fathers of modern psychology (co-star)

Appaloosa (2008) - Best traditional American western in 16 years (co-star)

Eastern Promises (2007) - Cronenberg invites us to meet the Russian mob in London (co-star)

A History of Violence (2005) - Cronenberg's powerful rumination of our violence (co-star)

 

Watch a trailer for the film here 

Cost: Unknown

Box office: 17k $ and counting

= Too early to say

[Falling premiered 31 January (Sundance Film Festival) and runs 112 minutes. Mortensen took up co-starring in the film to secure financing. Shooting took place in California, including Los Angeles, and in Ontario, Canada, including Toronto, from February - April 2019. The film has only released gross numbers from Slovenia and Russia so far, which come to tiny 17k $. The film is set to release in 7 more markets in coming months, including the UK and Germany. It does not have a North-American release set yet, and obviously its release is marred considerably by the China Virus pandemic. Mortensen does not have another project announced as a filmmaker, but he is starring in two projects that are in pre-production. Henriksen returned in 3 TV-series prior to his theatrical return in The Unhealer (2020). Falling is fresh at 65 % with a 5.80/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Falling?

Mennesker Bliver Spist (2015) - Clausen hits home with jewel of a film

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+ Best Dramedy of the Year

 

'Sometimes you've gotta go far to find your way home' reads the tagline on this poster for Erik Clausen's Mennesker Bliver Spist

Herluf is an auto mechanic with a wife who is no longer very impressed with him. Now he is beginning to suffer from dementia, but no one really notices it, which leads him on an unplanned journey.

 

Mennesker Bliver Spist is written by Louise Clausen (Aldrig Mere i Morgen (2017)) and great Danish co-writer/director/co-star Erik Clausen (Cirkus Casablanca (1981)). The title translates to 'people get eaten'.

Clausen's films are especially for Danes. But you don't have to subscribe to every societal opinions of his in order to enjoy Mennesker Bliver Spist, which is his best film in years and maybe the year's best Danish film. (Just as a matter of form, some of those opinions of his include; being a national-conservative is a life-crisis; modern man is selfish and without a sense of propriety; Danes are extremely concerned with possessions and forget the value of human care; and finally, that women are tough on their men.)

Clausen himself is deeply moving and convincing as Herluf. The story, which involves the increasingly blank man going to Poland by mistake, is outstanding and inventive, and it contains a long list of good performances: Bodil Jørgensen (Badehotellet (2013-20)) is matchless as the wife who has frozen herself into an iceberg in their marriage and has begun cheating; Nicolas Bro (Sorrow and Joy/Sorg og Glæde (2013)), Charlotte Fich (Drabet (2005)), Lærke Winther (Mille (2009, TV-series)), Rasmus Botoft (Danish Dynamite (2012, TV-series)), Leif Sylvester (Hodja fra Pjort (1985)) - all are great. Unknown amateur actors also light up scenes; a son, the shop master in Poland and a lady there, Herluf's car-interested old buddy among them, - the cast is terrific.

The title comes from John Mogensen's song Mennesker Bliver Spist i Polynesien (1975), used to great effect in the film. Clausen also pokes fun at modern missing persons searches here, and he generally keeps the film in an often moving farce style. Whatever you'll hold against Mennesker Bliver Spist, you'll easily forgive due to its warm-hearted, funny and edifying qualities. 

 

Related post:

 

Erik Clausen: 2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]

The Great Day on the Beach/Den Store Badedag (1991) or, My Copenhagen Boyhood (actor)

 

Watch a clip from the film here of Herluf being forgetful while on a stage

 

Cost: Reportedly 17.5 mil. $, approximately 2.78 mil. $

Box office: 2.6 mil. $

= Huge flop (returned 0.93 times its cost)

[Mennesker Bliver Spist was released 26 February (Denmark) and runs 104 minutes. Shooting took place from February - April 2014 in Denmark and Poland. It spent its first two weekends at #1 in Danish cinemas, where it sold 235,547 tickets, a decent haul in the small country. Its only foreign market was Brazil, which doesn't have a listed gross. The film was nominated for 3 Robert awards, Denmark's Oscar. Clausen returned with Aldrig Mere i Morgen (2017). As an actor he returned in Sverige Er Fantastisk (2015); Jørgensen with a voice performance in Albert (2015) and a physical performance in Parents/Forældre (2016). 457 IMDb users have given Mennesker Bliver Spist a 6.6/10 average rating.]

 

What do you think of Mennesker Bliver Spist?