Wilbur

Interesting film, but this viewer was far less impressed than the Scandinavian reviewers. Performances were great overall, though some deliveries of the clumsiest lines clunked (and Henderson's babydoll voice really irritates) Some great scenes, but the black comedy is uneven (lost in translation?)/ script patchy. All that bloody backstory for Wilbur-- was Harbour meant to be justifying the selfishness of his brother or.... what? Scherfig does a wonderful job in finding the humanity of difficult, odd characters (in 'Italian for beginners' too) Wish she'd cut the stuff that didn't work because it tries to hard to be odd. And more Mikkelsen please... what he evokes in the twitch of an eyebrow-- much more impressive than all that talk. Interesting but flawed... a director to watch, however.

"Wilbur wants to kill himself" is a (so)moving parable about how easy is to let yourself die when everything seems meaningless and how hard is to live when a disease is mining you.

Wilbur looks like a nice guy, the kind of man women like, he's good-looking, he has a brother who loves him... it doesn't seem like his existence is that miserable. Nevertheless he wants to leave this world, that's one of men's last rights so he'll try to kill himself in any possible way. On the contrary, his brother Harbour is full of life, he's an enthusiastic person, he's in love and he's just get married... how ironic, he has an incurable cancer, but that won't stop him from clinging to life till the last consequences.

Scherfig has moved away from the stupid DOGMA corset, and creates a perfect balance between the smile and the crying, tenderness and misanthropy, between life and death. She reduces the roughness of the hardest moments with a sarcastic turn or relying on the darkest sense of humor (that's always the best antidote against tragedy). Step by step she shows Wilbur the right way (and to all of us). No moral judgments, no dogmatism... there's no need to. Wilbur is a celebration of life, but is also a show of respect for those who don't wanna live anymore. Eventually it is a celebration of the best cinema: the one that makes you feel better.

*My rate: 8.5/10

I liked this film but I would've liked it much more if the dialog had been kicked up a few decibels and the musical score had been nearly killed off. I watched on DVD, so fortunately, I had the option of pressing hard on volume up during the dialog and pressing hard and fast on volume down and sometimes even mute during the music. Not that the score was distasteful at all, in fact, I thought it was good and very appropriate for the film. It was just that the volume itself was inappropriate. Perhaps the sound editor was afraid moviegoers would drift off asleep and s/he felt it dutiful to blast the sound out to ensure viewers wakeful alertness. At any rate, movie-good, sound editing-bad, very bad.

This film played in a small art-house theater in Los Angeles for several weeks with little or no promotion. I'd never heard of it and wondered why it continued playing for so long. I did not go to see it then but remembered the odd title. I subsequently came across the DVD and purchased it out of curiosity. I was amply rewarded for my adventure. The film, a Danish-Scottish co-production, is a small treasure. It is funny and poignant. The acting is uniformly fine and the characters are well defined and developed. The score is excellent and is performed by the Philharmonic of London. I share the DVD with friends and family and recommend the film highly. It's a wonderful little film.

"Wilbur" is a pretty hard movie to describe. It has many redeeming qualities, but in the end, I just didn't like it and wished I hadn't seen it.

It's another quirky comedy/drama, and it fits well into that category. I thought the writing was very good, and the comedy made me laugh out loud several times. However, the movie tries to get you to connect with the characters, and for me, it was impossible to do that. Although they're all likable people, the only one who really got to me was Wilbur's brother. If you have seen or will see the film, I'm sure you'll know why.

I wanted to like this movie, and I still just couldn't. It's very funny at times, and sometimes touching, but I left the theater being more angry and repulsed than relieved and entertained.

It's close, but unfortunately, no cigar.

5/10