Nordkraft

A stunningly bleak film. Some of the camera work is beautifully shot and highly original. It is so engaging that one almost needs to re watch the film, as so much more impact can be gained from subsequent viewings.

The tale is harrowing but very moving and thought provoking and all of the characters are complex and interesting.

Stunning debuts from an up to now unknown cast.

The film definitely has elements of trainspotting, but lacks a good deal of the humour.

I have not read the book, which by all accounts the film only portrays the final third of.

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

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.

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.

I'll preface this by saying that I only watched this movie to see the very brief performance of one of the cast.

Having never seen a Danish film and knowing nothing about this film going in, I couldn't help but feel like I was watching a mishmash of Requiem for a Dream (2000) and Trainspotting (1996) in a more traditional European type movie structure.

While US/UK movies usually follow the same structure (Sizzling start. Backfill, pebble, rock, boulder, conclusion) that starts with a bang before slowly building the drama/action/tension as the movie goes on, this movie took a more nuanced, straight-line structure with an intricate move from one storyline to the next that can keep the watcher engaged despite their being minimal action or drama. I didn't mind this structure albeit being one I'm not used to. It gave the feel of the movie a more realistic touch.

However, there were far too many similarities between this movie and the 2 mentioned above, as has been mentioned by other reviewers. Since those movies came out 5 and 9 years prior to this one, you cannot say the similarities were accidental. Especially when the main music composition was almost a plagiarised version of 'Lux Aeterna', the theme from Requiem for a Dream.

There were 2 standout performances in this.

Lars Mikkelsen - His performance, although minimal, was world class at the very end of the movie. Felt so genuine like it was happening for real. Gave me goosebumps. Magnificent.

Allen's niece - They went uncredited in this performance so I won't name them. The effectiveness of their performance is so understated. Their soft baby sounds was angelic in their sounds. Almost as if it was foretold that they'd be singing some of the most beautiful music in the world. I may be a little bias in my assessment, though.

Overall a decent movie. Had I not had seen RfaD and Trainspotting many years before seeing this, I may've rated this higher.