Helmer & søn

Well, this Danish short feature certainly had a few surprises at the end! Ha, ha. I can't help but laugh writing that. When you see this, you'll know what I mean.

For most of this, it looks like mainly a short soap opera as family members quarrel at a hospital-like nursing home. They are there - brother, sister, daughter - because they were called by the institution to help with a problem. Obviously, this family rarely gets together.

It seems Helmer's father has locked himself into a closet and won't come out. The son tries to talk some sense into dad, who is not happy after being in this place for a month. The son pleads for him to give it more time. In the meantime, his cell phone keeps wringing with business calls and the dad, who passed on the family business to his son, tries to tell him what to say. This leads to conflict but then the sister and her daughter enter the room and they aren't a lot of help, either.

What happens in the last few minutes is shocking, and sentimental at the same time. In the end, without giving anything away, the father and son have a new bond and appreciation for each other. This is an odd little story but one with a lot of hidden meanings and worthwhile to watch. Just stick with it.

Helmer has retreated to his armoire in the nursing home he lives and refuses to come out. His family is called in to try and persuade him to. This lean premise has little room to expand and other than it's moderately comic climax offers nothing other than a tired dialogue between a father and his children who outsource his care. It's hard to develop a relationship in such a short time (13 minutes) for the warehoused Helmer and his son (the daughter he more or less dismisses) to really care or feel anything between the father son relationship in a state of role reversal when there is little established between the two to begin with. The gimmick out of the way, the tragedy now comic, Helmer might have made for a whimsical sixty second commercial instead of the belabored quickie it is.

This was a wonderful short film from Denmark about a man who was recently placed in a retirement home and the staff are having such problems with him, they called his son and daughter. It seems the old man has locked himself in the wardrobe and won't come out--seemingly in protest for his having to live there. When his kids do arrive, the situation doesn't seem to improve and you are left wondering if the old guy will ever come out of this closet. However, when he does, WOW was I knocked for a loop--the punchline for all this was well worth the wait and gave me a nice laugh.

In the last couple weeks, this is the second Danish short I've seen--the other being TANGO (which was nominated for the 2008 Oscar). Both films were magnificent and had great senses of humor--so much so that I am eager to see more films from this country.

Excellent acting, direction and especially writing--this one is terrific. It's too bad that WEST BANK STORY (the winner for the Oscar for Best Live Action Short in 2006) was such a grand story--otherwise I am pretty sure HELMER & SON would have won. A lovely film--just be aware that there is some nudity and adult content--so be careful about letting the kids see it.

These films and many more are included on the DVD "A Collection of 2006 Academy Award Nominated Short Films" and is well worth buying because it is jam-packed full of 13 wonderful shorts.