Nordkraft

For some reason I felt draw to this movie from the first time I saw the trailer, so of course I had to see it during it's opening weekend and I can say without a doubt this is the best movie this year so far. It's a disturbing look inside the under(drug)world of the 5th largest city in Denmark. Set in the mid 90's the movie follows 3 persons,

Maria (a runaway from home girl). Allan (a guy who left it all when his best friend got jailed, but returns after an accident) Thomas aka. Steso (a very bright and intelligent guy, who does the drug because he likes the mental freedom it provides and acknowledges that he's addicted, but still loves it)

The movie follows the 3 main characters as they struggle with their lives, Allan with trying to get out, Steso with getting more into it and Maria just being where she can't really control her life.

The movie uses no known actors (except for Kirsten Nordholt as Allan's mom and Lars Mikkelsen as Steso's dad), maybe this is a deliberate decision so that the actors and therefore characters doesn't out do each other. And yet the movie is played with a top class performances, by ALL actors (not like Pusher 2 which, except for Mads Mikkelsen, is played so poorly that one has a hard time feeling for the characters). The 3 main characters does a very breathtaking performance, but everyone else does also great job, all the way from Pernille Vallentin Brandt as Tilde to Rudi Köhnke (who by the way looks a lot like Joaquin Phoenix) as Frank. Everybody delivers an absolutely outstanding performance.

This movie is based on a book by the same name, I haven't read the book so I cannot comment on the level of integrity toward the book. But I can say that I love this movie.

It's a 9/10, if you liked Christiane F. or Pusher, then you'll love this one. It's a Hard, ugly and disturbing look into the underworld.

Nordkraft

Directed by Ole Christian Madsen (2005)

This movie deals with three different people and each their story. The one thing they have in common is the fact that they all have roots in the drug world of the Danish city Aalborg. Maria's boyfriend is a minor local pusher, and she's going on waiting for something big to happen for them; though slowly recognizing that her dream has become an illusion. Allan returns to Aalborg after a serious accident hit him, when he worked on a ship in the Atlantic. Afters his returns his past catches up with him, and he must deal with some serious decisions. The last person we follow in Steso. Steso, or Thomas as he's really named, is a full time junkie, who's only purposes in life are his girlfriend and getting high constantly. But after his girlfriend has meat someone new, his present as he has known it till now is being threatened.

These are three good stories but without a main thread between the three of them. The director has used relatively young and inexperienced actors, with Thure Lindhart as the exception. This means that the acting has some flaws and doesn't seem convincing throughout the movie. But it helps give the movie a more rough tone and dialect, helping to create great atmosphere this movie has. The visual side is also really good, containing some really cool dolly shots of the leading characters. An interesting movie that shows that drugs and the problem that follows doesn't just exist in Copenhagen.

7/10

I saw this film at a special pre-premiere screening and knowing that Danish film has taken quite a beating this last decade with a lot of really bad films ("Den eneste ene" and the "Kærlighed ved første hik" trilogy being excellent examples). It seemed to me that the Danish movie industry were only able to produce two kinds of film: crappy romantic comedies or dogme films. The dogme films can be quite interesting but they have just been produced in too large a number to remain interesting.

So my hopes were quite low going into the cinema to see Nordkraft (not having read the book either) but all my worries were put to rest very quickly because I was taken aback by the visual style of the film which is very interesting. Also the storytelling element of the film worked very well and the fact that the story is split into three is very appealing and interesting.

The characters in the film must be said to be the most important aspect of the film and luckily they work quite well. Especially Thure Lindhardt who plays Steso is very good because he is very good at making his character edgy and extreme but still believable. Signe Egholm Olsen is also quite good and works very well in suspenseful scenes. Of the three main actors Claus Riis Østergaard is the worst but he is still good don't get me wrong. One of the most powerful scenes in the entire movie is with Steso's father, Lars Mikkelsen because Lars Mikkelsen (who is a far better actor than his brother by the way) is such an incredibly intense actor.

The only thing that I feel pulls this film in a negative direction is the fact that it is afraid to be its own film. It borrows heavily on the visual style from Requiem for a Dream and in terms of storytelling and thats a shame because Nordkraft definitely has the potential to be its own film.

All in all a very decent Danish drama: 7 out of 10

By that, I don't mean Maria, Allan and Steso (Thomas) who were meant to be the three main characters. I mean Maria, Allan and Hossein. All the way through, I was hoping for Steso to get more interesting or more involved in the slowly interconnecting story. At the same time, I was straining to learn more about Hossein, the Persian war veteran with enough self-esteem to share.

As an English-speaker, I could not help compare this film with *Trainspotting*. It is a very 'f*** life' philosophy and comments more than once on the bourgeois and their habits.

I also could not help but compare the camera-work with that of *Requeim for a Dream*. David Stratton would hate it: rushy and giddy - but I like that sort of thing. There was no stop-motion that I remember.

I did like the sound-track, but I may be biased because the lyrics were often in English.

Nordkraft is new in it's genre in Denmark. A story of people with a serious drug abuse problem and how they fight for their love. But it's not new it is genre for the rest of the world. Obvious to the viewer the director is inspired by such great films as "Requiem for a dream", "Trainspotting" and numinous others. The editing, extreme close-ups of eye pupils, the choice of music, the movement of camera and the idea of attaching the camera to the body "camera-to-face" while running, is similar to "Requiem for a dream". Despite the fact, that it is not a original in it's craftsmanship, the film is actually pretty well done. But maybe the success should belong to Jakob Ejersbo, the writer of the novel? It has a slow start, because it uses the first hour for introducing the characters. Which is a bit to long. But when the story finally kicks of, it's exciting and thrilling. The acting can sometimes be a bit pourly and over the top, but Claus Riis Østergaard as Allan levels it up.

All in all I think is a great film, but it would have been even better, if only the pace of the story in the beginning were faster and if it was shorten a bit. Enjoy.