Mifune

I've always been a fan of European cinema, mostly because it has something more to offer than Hollywood's mass production. Don't think that I hate every movie that comes from Hollywood or that I love all European films. As well in Europe as in America, they have made some excellent movies as well as awful ones.

If it isn't a better story or more profound characters, than it is the style of filming that makes European cinema a little different from the American. And this movie has it all. The story is very good and original and the characters are very recognizable. I really got the feeling that I got to know them better, even though their lives are sometimes completely different from mine. But most important is the way everything is shot. For those who aren't familiar with the rules made up by Dogma yet, I'll give a small explanation: the director promises not to use extra light, special effects, extra sound effects... They want to make the story speak for itself and show everything in a natural and realistic way. To some this may seem like the most boring concept ever. I guess many people who like movies like The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Spiderman,... movies that are full of special effects, huge scenes and nice visual effects, may not be blown away by this movie. I know that many people may hate the concept, that many people don't want to see this kind of movies, but personally I find this a very welcome concept in a world where everybody seems to feel the need to copy what works, without being original.

Kresten has moved from a small Danish island, where his parents farm is, to Copenhagen in order to pursue an excellent career and unconcerned life. He marries his boss's daughter and is sure that he'll become the new boss as soon as his father-in-law decides to retire. But on his honeymoon he gets a phone call that his father died and that he'll have to return home. The only problem is that he has never told his wife that he had a father and a retarded brother, living together on the family farm. Once he arrives at the farm, he sees that much hasn't changed or been done since he left and he decides that they will need a housekeeper to clean up the mess. He sends an advertisement to a local newspaper and he immediately gets a reaction from Liva Psilander. Liva is a prostitute who wants to start a new life. She wants to escape from an anonymous psychopath who harasses her by phone and needs a lot of money to pay her brother Bjarke's school tuition. When Kresten's wife discovers the truth, or at least what she thinks the truth is, she breaks off the marriage and makes sure that Kresten will lose his job at her father's company and that he'll never get it back. Now Kresten will have to live together with his brother, with Livia and her little brother in the old farm on the island...

I can assure you that you'll have to get used to the way of filming at first. Perhaps you'll need two viewings to fully appreciate this movie, but once you can see past the style of filming, you'll see that this movie has a very beautiful and hearth warming subject. Personally I really liked it and that's why I give this movie at least an 8/10, even an 8.5/10.

Mifune is a surprisingly easy film to watch, delightful in many respects and certainly original. The comedy is in many ways unique; nothing hits you in the cinema, but you still leave with a smile on your face. The acting is, in my view, superb, the locations fitting, and the plot; well, original and refreshing. If you need cheering up or it's a rainy day then I recommend this film. Very refreshing indeed.

I didn't know much about this movie going in, but I got a very nice surprise. The Kresten plot -- a yuppie summoned home to deal with his redneck past by the death of his father -- could have been a dull family drama, but this movie was much better than that. It turns out that he has a number of things about his past that he's kept secret from the people in his city life -- his retarded brother, the badly run-down farm he grew up on, and more. Some of his story is serious, and much is played for humor, with good taste separating the drama and humor.

The Liva plot -- a woman escaping prostitution into an honest common job -- was completely opposite the Hollywood presentation of prostitution. (Hollywood either glamorizes it, uses it as an opportunity to add gratuitous sex before switching to the gratuitous violence.) Liva's prostitution pays fairly well, but it's clearly miserable, degrading, full of fear, and sometimes danger. The movie shows why she wants out with understated drama -- instead of rubbing her misery in our faces, it shows us hints of it, but leaves room for us to imagine just how bad it is for her.

When Liva escapes prostitution with a job as Kresten's housekeeper, the her part in the movie switches from drama to comedy, in the form of funny situations and events that feel natural, rather than contrived gag situations.

The acting was very good, particular Iben Hjejle's portrayal of Liva. Anders W. Berthelsen played Kresten well, and Emil Tarding's smaller role as Liva's young brother Bjarke was also very good.

I had never heard of the Dogme film series until after seeing this movie. The only one Dogme rule that really matters to the movie was that the plot must stick to real life and avoid superficial violence. That demanded a plot where the characters and story matter, and Søren Kragh-Jacobsen delivered. The simple camera work, natural lighting, minimal set dressing, etc., didn't improve the movie. But neither did the simple movie-making detract from the quality -- they deserve praise for doing so well within their rules of simplicity. One additional benefit of the movie-making simplicity rules was that it kept the budget low, so that more good movies like this could be made.

I saw the film last night on TV, but have been wanting to rent it for the last 5 years, but never did. The story reminded me a bit of Rainman, but being a Dogma movie gave it it's special charm.Especially the isolation of the location on an island and the harshness of living on such an isolated farm were brought over very well by the dogma principle of using only natural light. I thought the acting of Iben Hjejle was fantastic as the prostitute who is on a crossroad in her life and has to find out which road to take. The other characters (except for Kresten's wife)are also played very believable. The only thing that bothers me is the overacting. Dogma pretends to be as close to reality as possible, but i cannot believe that in Denmark, when there is a small disagreement, everybody starts to scream at each other in such an overdone way. Still it remains a good, entertaining movie, so watch it!!

Mifune starts off a little slow and at first you are really not sure where it is going. Thankfully this does not last for long. The characters have many dimenions and the viewer quickly cares and grows more curiousity towards the characters. Yes, many of the Dogme 95 guildlines are in this film however (must like Festen... another fabulous film) it is the story that makes this such a great film.

All characters in this film are completly different from eachother. The dialouge itself is not what makes this film great, it's the story of all these people combined.

Dogme films often show things that an American audience may have a hard time dealing with. If seeing something and learning from something that Americans can hide from is something that holds an interest than I highly recommend this film.