Não Tenha Medo de Mim

Middle aged Mikael,depressed, numb, sleepless. Beautiful house overlooking a body of water, quite a bit of money,seemingly happy marriage, surprisingly docile teenage daughter, all to no avail. Thus, this indictment of civilized, affluent, but ultimately lonely and empty western world. The world of people who have more than plenty, but always desire the impossible. Some imaginary, complete fulfillment that tops all the joys of the joys. Quiet, slow, but hauntingly eerie movie. It makes you uncomfortable, because it seems so easily our life, our nightmare. Real horrors do not involve psychotic masked killers or demonic spirits. Our own demons outweigh all the fiction.

I was disappointed to notice the relatively low collective rating for Kristian Levring's "Fear Me Not." This was one of the best psychological thrillers I've yet to see. Particularly, I think the plot twist was brilliant. I don't want to spoil the film, so I won't go into details about the twist - however, I can say that it definitely pulled me further into the story and it enhanced the film's depth and psychological implications. I also feel the setting was perfect for the protagonist's dark emotional journey. His family's home was on a vast lake within the picturesque Danish landscape. If shot in the summer, the setting would have felt completely different. However, it seems to have been filmed in the fall or early winter, which aptly portrays the cold, dark and somber environment associated with winters in Northwestern Europe. Overall, I believe that anyone who enjoys psychological thrillers would have much to become mesmerized with in this film.

Hitchcock would be proud. The art of hinting within cinema is still alive. This doesn't spell everything out for you. The trailer for this does not do it justice. I was not expecting to enjoy this as much as I did. It is a film about discontentment, control, and the urges and thoughts lying just beneath the surface. I was pleased to find that Anders Thomas Jensen helped write this, as I enjoyed Blinkende Lygter(or Flickering Lights) and Mørke(also known as Murk), the latter in particular. I would say that you can tell that he had a hand in making this. I believe this is the first film by Levring I've seen, but I certainly am taking notice to his directorial style. Interesting choices are made, among other places in framing and cutting. The editing and cinematography are definitely worth attention. The story-telling is very subtle, and the use of narration does not become a crutch. The pacing is spot-on, it never moved too slow or fast. The acting is excellent, every single performance is beyond reproach. Even the kid, and that's not something that happens all that often. The use of music is good. This can be rather intense, and proper care is taken to build up suspense. There is a little sexuality including obscured nudity, as well as a bit of language and bloodless violence in this. I recommend this to anyone who wants the themes explored for 95 minutes, and/or those who dig a great thriller. 8/10

"Den du frygter" ("Fear Me Not" in English) reminded me of David Cronenberg's movies. The results of the main character's taking the pills call to mind the risks associated with pharmaceuticals. We hear about side effects, but what happens to this man go beyond that. It would make more sense if the natural substances were more available.

It's a very well done movie. This is partly because the viewer thinks that there are degrees to which the movie won't go...but it goes to them. We also get a look at the Danish countryside; its idealistic appearance belies the character's descent into madness. I'm unfamiliar with the rest of Kristian Levring's work but now I'd like to see more of his movies. Denmark has produced some great directors (Carl Theodor Dreyer and Lars von Trier, for instance), and I'd say that Levring is also in that number.

but only a so-so rendering of what ultimately is the harrowing depiction of a man's mid-life crisis. Thomsen is awesome, as is Steen, and the atmosphere is "Dogmetically" foreboding, but the protagonist is never convincingly portrayed in any way other than the selfish, psychotic lout that he embodies throughout. I loved Levring's The King Is Alive, and in fact gave it a rare (for me) 10 rating on this website. But for me this is a classic case of a film failing to become greater than the sum of its parts. In the end, a decent enough character study, with a neat twist at the end, but nothing we haven't seen before, and done much better (Michael Douglas in Falling Down came to mind for me, at least). 5 out of 10 on my IMDb-ometer.