The latest feature from The Adams Family, Hell Hole, unearths a classic creature feature filled with gross-out body horror and glorious practical effects. We’ve got an exclusive look at the official Hell Hole trailer ahead of the film’s premiere tonight at Fantasia International Film Festival, giving a squirm-inducing, gory first look at some of the monster madness ahead.
Shudder will debut Hell Hole on August 23.
In Hell Hole, “an American-led fracking crew working deep in the Serbian wilderness find themselves at odds with government assigned environmental advisors. When they get approval to drill, the workers uncover the unimaginable: a dormant parasitic monster entombed deep in the frozen rock. Now awakened, it tears through the mining facility in search of the perfect host.”
John Adams, Toby Poser, and Lulu Adams penned the script. John Adams and Toby Poser direct.
The film stars Toby Poser, John Adams, Max Portham (Where the Devil Roams...
Shudder will debut Hell Hole on August 23.
In Hell Hole, “an American-led fracking crew working deep in the Serbian wilderness find themselves at odds with government assigned environmental advisors. When they get approval to drill, the workers uncover the unimaginable: a dormant parasitic monster entombed deep in the frozen rock. Now awakened, it tears through the mining facility in search of the perfect host.”
John Adams, Toby Poser, and Lulu Adams penned the script. John Adams and Toby Poser direct.
The film stars Toby Poser, John Adams, Max Portham (Where the Devil Roams...
- 7/29/2024
- by Meagan Navarro
- bloody-disgusting.com
Mubi has acquired 11 films by Lars von Trier for North America, including the director’s Dogme 95 entry The Idiots. It will release a new uncut 4K restoration of the film June 16 theatrically timed to its 25th anniversary, followed by an exclusive streaming release.
Other titles, most newly restored, include Dogville (2003), The Five Obstructions (2003), Manderlay (2005), The Boss of it All (2006), Breaking the Waves (1996), the Europa Trilogy, Antichrist (2009) and Dancer in the Dark (2000). Some are streaming on Mubi now, others will roll out on through September 2025.
Mubi acquired new restorations of von Trier series, The Kingdom Seasons 1 and 2, along with its latest season, The Kingdom Exodus in 2022.
TrustNordisk brokered the deal with Mubi.
The Idiots, which premiered at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival, was made under the Dogme 95 school started by von Trier and other Danish filmmakers. It centers on a commune, whose members aim to disrupt...
Other titles, most newly restored, include Dogville (2003), The Five Obstructions (2003), Manderlay (2005), The Boss of it All (2006), Breaking the Waves (1996), the Europa Trilogy, Antichrist (2009) and Dancer in the Dark (2000). Some are streaming on Mubi now, others will roll out on through September 2025.
Mubi acquired new restorations of von Trier series, The Kingdom Seasons 1 and 2, along with its latest season, The Kingdom Exodus in 2022.
TrustNordisk brokered the deal with Mubi.
The Idiots, which premiered at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival, was made under the Dogme 95 school started by von Trier and other Danish filmmakers. It centers on a commune, whose members aim to disrupt...
- 5/12/2023
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
Mubi has announced its lineup of streaming offerings for next month, including David Easteal’s The Plains (one of the best films we saw on the festival circuit last year), Christophe Honoré’s Winter Boy, Koji Fukada’s 10-part series The Real Thing, Bruce Labruce’s Saint-Narcisse, and more.
Additional highlights include three films by Joan Micklin Silver, additions to their Lars von Trier series, Sylvain Chomet’s The Triplets of Belleville, Sally Potter’s Orlando, Steven Soderbergh’s Haywire, Nadav Lapid’s Synonyms, and more.
Check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.
April 1 – Henry Fool, directed by Hal Hartley
April 2 – Waltz with Bashir, directed by Ari Folman
April 3 – The All-Round Reduced Personality – Redupers, directed by Helke Sander | What Sets Us Free? German Feminist Cinema
April 4 – Saint-Narcisse, directed by Bruce Labruce
April 5 – Jaime Francisco, directed by Javier Rodríguez | Brief Encounters
April 6 – Hester Street, directed by Joan Micklin...
Additional highlights include three films by Joan Micklin Silver, additions to their Lars von Trier series, Sylvain Chomet’s The Triplets of Belleville, Sally Potter’s Orlando, Steven Soderbergh’s Haywire, Nadav Lapid’s Synonyms, and more.
Check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.
April 1 – Henry Fool, directed by Hal Hartley
April 2 – Waltz with Bashir, directed by Ari Folman
April 3 – The All-Round Reduced Personality – Redupers, directed by Helke Sander | What Sets Us Free? German Feminist Cinema
April 4 – Saint-Narcisse, directed by Bruce Labruce
April 5 – Jaime Francisco, directed by Javier Rodríguez | Brief Encounters
April 6 – Hester Street, directed by Joan Micklin...
- 3/23/2023
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
The Danish actor on her role in the director’s new serial killer movie, being mesmerised by Suranne Jones, and Christmas hygge-style
Danish actor Sofie Gråbøl became famous internationally playing police officer Sarah Lund in TV thriller The Killing. She also starred in the Arctic-set Sky series Fortitude. She made her film debut in 1986, her early films including 1988 Cannes Palme d’Or winner Pelle the Conqueror. She now appears as one of the victims of a serial killer played by Matt Dillon in The House That Jack Built, the latest film from Danish provocateur Lars von Trier, whom she previously worked with on his 2006 comedy, The Boss of It All. She lives in Copenhagen with her two children.
So, The House That Jack Built…
What did you think?...
Danish actor Sofie Gråbøl became famous internationally playing police officer Sarah Lund in TV thriller The Killing. She also starred in the Arctic-set Sky series Fortitude. She made her film debut in 1986, her early films including 1988 Cannes Palme d’Or winner Pelle the Conqueror. She now appears as one of the victims of a serial killer played by Matt Dillon in The House That Jack Built, the latest film from Danish provocateur Lars von Trier, whom she previously worked with on his 2006 comedy, The Boss of It All. She lives in Copenhagen with her two children.
So, The House That Jack Built…
What did you think?...
- 12/8/2018
- by Jonathan Romney
- The Guardian - Film News
Poul Berg’s feature debut was developed in cooperation with fellow Emmy nominee Kalle Bjerkø.
LevelK has acquired world sales rights for Poul Berg’s Danish family action film Hacker.
The film marks the feature debut for Emmy nominee Berg, whose TV credits include Ride Upon The Storm, Mille and Limbo.
The script has been developed in cooperation with writer Kalle Bjerkø, Emmy nominee 2012 for Boxhead.
Signe Leick Jensen and Morten Kaufmann produce for Toolbox Film, with Cinenic Film as co-producer. Backers include The Danish Film Institute, Dr TV, The Swedish Film Institute, Svt, Scanbox Entertainment, LevelK and Creative Europe/Media.
LevelK has acquired world sales rights for Poul Berg’s Danish family action film Hacker.
The film marks the feature debut for Emmy nominee Berg, whose TV credits include Ride Upon The Storm, Mille and Limbo.
The script has been developed in cooperation with writer Kalle Bjerkø, Emmy nominee 2012 for Boxhead.
Signe Leick Jensen and Morten Kaufmann produce for Toolbox Film, with Cinenic Film as co-producer. Backers include The Danish Film Institute, Dr TV, The Swedish Film Institute, Svt, Scanbox Entertainment, LevelK and Creative Europe/Media.
- 3/19/2018
- by Wendy Mitchell
- ScreenDaily
With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’ve taken it upon ourselves to highlight the titles that have recently hit platforms. Every week, one will be able to see the cream of the crop (or perhaps some simply interesting picks) of streaming titles (new and old) across platforms such as Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, and more (note: U.S. only). Check out our rundown for this week’s selections below.
Blame (Quinn Shephard)
Written, directed, edited, and starring 22-year-old Quinn Shephard, Blame premiered at Tribeca Film Festival last spring. We said in our review, “It’s an impressive debut feature that’s confident and assured, yet feels less like a feature film and more like an effective television drama with a few well-drawn characters and a multi-episode arc. Its asymmetric narrative doesn’t always work as it withholds information...
Blame (Quinn Shephard)
Written, directed, edited, and starring 22-year-old Quinn Shephard, Blame premiered at Tribeca Film Festival last spring. We said in our review, “It’s an impressive debut feature that’s confident and assured, yet feels less like a feature film and more like an effective television drama with a few well-drawn characters and a multi-episode arc. Its asymmetric narrative doesn’t always work as it withholds information...
- 1/12/2018
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Veteran producer Richard B. Lewis (August Rush, Backdraft, The Outer Limits) and his Southpaw Entertainment Group have three new projects in development at Universal Cable Productions, Deadline has learned. The first is a project about monsters and their creators, the second an adaptation of Nicola Moriarty's breakthrough novel, The Fifth Letter, and the third, a half-hour comedic adaptation of Lars Von Trier’s, The Boss Of It All. Lewis and Salem co-creator Adam Simon…...
- 1/11/2018
- Deadline TV
What’s wrong with Mitch Hurwitz? For the last few years, we had a chance to hear that he’ll be writing the script for Arrested Development, and that filming will begin soon, and… well, a lot of things!
And now, we’re here to report that Hurwitz has actually just set up a deal with Universal to direct a remake of Lars von Trier‘s The Boss of It All comedy?
No, we’re not kidding! According to the latest reports, Emma Forrest will be in charge for the screenplay, while Arrested Development narrator Ron Howard will executive-produce with Brian Grazer through their Imagine Entertainment company.
And here’s a little description of the original The Boss of It All (Direktøren for det hele) movie:
“The owner of an It company wishes to sell it. But, for years, he has pretended that the real boss lives in America and...
And now, we’re here to report that Hurwitz has actually just set up a deal with Universal to direct a remake of Lars von Trier‘s The Boss of It All comedy?
No, we’re not kidding! According to the latest reports, Emma Forrest will be in charge for the screenplay, while Arrested Development narrator Ron Howard will executive-produce with Brian Grazer through their Imagine Entertainment company.
And here’s a little description of the original The Boss of It All (Direktøren for det hele) movie:
“The owner of an It company wishes to sell it. But, for years, he has pretended that the real boss lives in America and...
- 2/24/2011
- by Fiona
- Filmofilia
The Danish films are coming
The Danish Film Festival will return to Los Angeles Oct. 4-11 with an opening-night screening of Carl Theodor Dreyer's 1928 film La passion de Jeanne d'Arc, featuring a new score.
This year's festival will commemorate 100 years of Danish cinema and feature screenings at the Laemmle Sunset 5 of films including Hunger, Pelle the Conqueror and Babette's Feast, as well as recent works like Lars von Trier's The Boss of It All.
This year's festival will commemorate 100 years of Danish cinema and feature screenings at the Laemmle Sunset 5 of films including Hunger, Pelle the Conqueror and Babette's Feast, as well as recent works like Lars von Trier's The Boss of It All.
- 9/14/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Boss of It All
Always full of surprises, Lars von Trier moves far from the didactic, this-is-good-for-you medicine of Manderlay and Dogville to a seemingly light comedy, The Boss of It All. Naturally, things are not that simple when dealing with one of Dogma's founding members. In this film, he is, among other things, experimenting with a new (and dubious) camera system; taking shots at pretentious actors (after having worked with and clashed with stars like Nicole Kidman); passing sly moral judgments on globalization; and even having fun with Icelanders.
The film does mark a return to his roots, of sorts. It is in Danish with mostly Danish actors, and eschews allegory for what is remarkably close to screwball comedy. It is a refreshing change, whatever you call it, and marks his most accessible work in years. It has arrived in such an off-hand manner in the U.S. that it may escape the notice of all but the most ardent art house lovers. Too bad. It is certainly a whole lot more enjoyable than Manderlay, which felt like a trip to the dentist.
Von Trier begins with his camera tracking up the side of a soulless office building. His reflection alongside the camera is seen in the windows. Yes, a strange start to a movie, he says, but no worries: This is a comedy and harmless as such. No preaching or swaying of opinion. "This film won't cause you more than a moment's reflection," he concludes.
This fish-out-of-water comedy begins with the fact that Ravn (Peter Gantzler), a longtime director and secret owner of an IT company, is a wuss, so much so that he has created a nonexistent and perpetually absent "boss of it all" to make the unpopular decisions he is afraid to announce to his staff himself. But when he wants to sell the company to a disgruntled Icelander (director Fridrik Thor Fridriksson) -- who despises Danes in the first place -- Ravn suddenly needs that boss to exist, if only to give him the power of attorney to sign papers.
He hires an out-of-work actor, Kristoffer (Jens Albinus). But Kristoffer's line readings are so overdone at the key meeting, the Icelander storms out and demands Kristoffer come to the next meeting, power of attorney be damned. When Kristoffer introduces himself to employees, Ravn has no choice but to let the actor continue in the role for a week.
The problem is the boss of it all is different things to different people, according to the misinformation supplied by Ravn. To one woman he is gay. To another he has proposed marriage. One man, upon meeting him, slugs him. Another woman screams every time the copying machine springs to life.
In a series of skit-like scenes, Kristoffer must sort out the "back story" of his character. As he does so, he comes to like the senior employees and to feel that Ravn may be cheating them.
The comic complications grow quite wonderfully silly, and are aided by the deadpan deliveries of most of the actors. Even better, most of the film takes place in an arid office building bathed in a Nordic gray-green light, which couldn't look more awful.
Of course, the awful look may have something to do with von Trier's new whiz-bang camera system. This film, you understand, was not shot by a cinematographer. No, it was shot by Automavision, which hands control of the camera to a computer program.
This is, media notes explain, "a principle for shooting film developed with the intention of limiting human influence by inviting chance in from the cold." Which explains the odd framings, though not the internal jump cuts within scenes making everything seem unsettled and nervous.
Let's just say the movie is a success but the experiment a failure.
THE BOSS OF IT ALL
IFC First Take
A Zentrope Entertainment 21/Memfis Film International/Slot Machine/Lucky Red production
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Lars von Trier
Producers: Meta Louise Foldager, Vibeke Windelov, Signe Jensen
Executive producers: Lene Borglum, Peter Albaek
Director of photography: Automavision
Production designer: Simone Grau
Costume designer: Manon Rasmussen
Editor: Molly M. Stensgaard
Cast:
Kristoffer: Jens Albinus
Ravn: Peter Gantzler
Lise: Iben Hjejle
Nalle: Henrik Prip
Heidi A.: Mia Lyhne
Gorm: Casper Christensen
Mette: Louise Mieritz
Spencer: Jean-Marc Barr
Kisser: Sofie Grabol
Finnur: Fridrick Thor Fredriksson
Running time -- 98 minutes
No MPAA rating...
The film does mark a return to his roots, of sorts. It is in Danish with mostly Danish actors, and eschews allegory for what is remarkably close to screwball comedy. It is a refreshing change, whatever you call it, and marks his most accessible work in years. It has arrived in such an off-hand manner in the U.S. that it may escape the notice of all but the most ardent art house lovers. Too bad. It is certainly a whole lot more enjoyable than Manderlay, which felt like a trip to the dentist.
Von Trier begins with his camera tracking up the side of a soulless office building. His reflection alongside the camera is seen in the windows. Yes, a strange start to a movie, he says, but no worries: This is a comedy and harmless as such. No preaching or swaying of opinion. "This film won't cause you more than a moment's reflection," he concludes.
This fish-out-of-water comedy begins with the fact that Ravn (Peter Gantzler), a longtime director and secret owner of an IT company, is a wuss, so much so that he has created a nonexistent and perpetually absent "boss of it all" to make the unpopular decisions he is afraid to announce to his staff himself. But when he wants to sell the company to a disgruntled Icelander (director Fridrik Thor Fridriksson) -- who despises Danes in the first place -- Ravn suddenly needs that boss to exist, if only to give him the power of attorney to sign papers.
He hires an out-of-work actor, Kristoffer (Jens Albinus). But Kristoffer's line readings are so overdone at the key meeting, the Icelander storms out and demands Kristoffer come to the next meeting, power of attorney be damned. When Kristoffer introduces himself to employees, Ravn has no choice but to let the actor continue in the role for a week.
The problem is the boss of it all is different things to different people, according to the misinformation supplied by Ravn. To one woman he is gay. To another he has proposed marriage. One man, upon meeting him, slugs him. Another woman screams every time the copying machine springs to life.
In a series of skit-like scenes, Kristoffer must sort out the "back story" of his character. As he does so, he comes to like the senior employees and to feel that Ravn may be cheating them.
The comic complications grow quite wonderfully silly, and are aided by the deadpan deliveries of most of the actors. Even better, most of the film takes place in an arid office building bathed in a Nordic gray-green light, which couldn't look more awful.
Of course, the awful look may have something to do with von Trier's new whiz-bang camera system. This film, you understand, was not shot by a cinematographer. No, it was shot by Automavision, which hands control of the camera to a computer program.
This is, media notes explain, "a principle for shooting film developed with the intention of limiting human influence by inviting chance in from the cold." Which explains the odd framings, though not the internal jump cuts within scenes making everything seem unsettled and nervous.
Let's just say the movie is a success but the experiment a failure.
THE BOSS OF IT ALL
IFC First Take
A Zentrope Entertainment 21/Memfis Film International/Slot Machine/Lucky Red production
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Lars von Trier
Producers: Meta Louise Foldager, Vibeke Windelov, Signe Jensen
Executive producers: Lene Borglum, Peter Albaek
Director of photography: Automavision
Production designer: Simone Grau
Costume designer: Manon Rasmussen
Editor: Molly M. Stensgaard
Cast:
Kristoffer: Jens Albinus
Ravn: Peter Gantzler
Lise: Iben Hjejle
Nalle: Henrik Prip
Heidi A.: Mia Lyhne
Gorm: Casper Christensen
Mette: Louise Mieritz
Spencer: Jean-Marc Barr
Kisser: Sofie Grabol
Finnur: Fridrick Thor Fredriksson
Running time -- 98 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 6/15/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
'Little Children' to open Mexico fest
MEXICO CITY -- Todd Field's Oscar-nominated Little Children will open the 4th annual Mexico City International Contemporary Film Festival, one of Mexico's top movie showcases.
A total of 219 films from 47 nations will unspool during the 10-day festival, which runs from Feb. 21-March 4 here in the nation's capital.
The FICCO, as the event is called, will have 16 features and 17 documentaries in competition, organizers said at a Thursday news conference.
The fiction section features two Mexican productions: Ruben Imaz's Familia Tortuga (Turtle Family) and the world premiere of Ivan Avila's La Sangre Iluminada (Enlightened Blood).
The only American feature in competition is Julia Loktev's Day Night Day Night. The majority of fictional titles in competition are first works, including the award-winning 12:08 East of Bucharest, the first feature-length offering from Romania's Corneliu Porumboiu.
Notable foreign pictures screening out of competition include the Spike Lee documentary When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts, David Lynch's Inland Empire, Lars Von Trier's The Boss of It All and Canada's foreign-language Oscar-nominee, Water.
Among the international jury members are Jim Jarmusch, producer Jim Stark, actress Geraldine Chaplin and producer Mary Sweeney.
A total of 219 films from 47 nations will unspool during the 10-day festival, which runs from Feb. 21-March 4 here in the nation's capital.
The FICCO, as the event is called, will have 16 features and 17 documentaries in competition, organizers said at a Thursday news conference.
The fiction section features two Mexican productions: Ruben Imaz's Familia Tortuga (Turtle Family) and the world premiere of Ivan Avila's La Sangre Iluminada (Enlightened Blood).
The only American feature in competition is Julia Loktev's Day Night Day Night. The majority of fictional titles in competition are first works, including the award-winning 12:08 East of Bucharest, the first feature-length offering from Romania's Corneliu Porumboiu.
Notable foreign pictures screening out of competition include the Spike Lee documentary When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts, David Lynch's Inland Empire, Lars Von Trier's The Boss of It All and Canada's foreign-language Oscar-nominee, Water.
Among the international jury members are Jim Jarmusch, producer Jim Stark, actress Geraldine Chaplin and producer Mary Sweeney.
- 1/25/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Boss of It All
Palm Springs International Film Festival
PALM SPRINGS -- Taking a break between the second and third installments of his "USA: Land of Opportunities" trilogy, Lars von Trier goes for the jocular in "The Boss of It All", a slight and sprightly bit of fun that's not, however, without teeth. The Danish writer-director concocts a sort of Scandi "Office", gathering an able and willing ensemble for what he drolly describes in introductory voice-over as "a comedy, and harmless as such." It's also a delight. The film screened recently at the Palm Springs festival and is scheduled for limited stateside release in May, when it's sure to attract the von Trier faithful.
Avoiding the overt social commentary of the director's most recent work, "Boss" is perhaps closest in focus to "The Five Obstructions", his 2003 docu on the filmmaking process, in which von Trier played a devilishly entertaining game of one-upmanship with director Jorgen Leth. Here he casts a prankster's eye on actorly affectations, the director-actor relationship and the conventions of throwaway entertainment, all while lampooning the collective delusions of corporate culture.
The wonderful Jens Albinu (who starred in von Trier's 1998 comic drama "The Idiots") plays Kristoffer, an actor hired by businessman Ravn (Peter Gantzler) to play the owner of an IT company -- not onstage, but in the boardroom. During negotiations with Icelandic entrepreneur Finnur (Fridrik Thor Fridriksson), who wants to buy the firm, Kristoffer injects meaningful pauses into his "line readings" that all but stop the dealmaking cold. The perpetually unamused Finnur is convinced that all Danes are wacko. He doesn't know the half of it.
Wanting only to be loved, Ravn, a handsome and affable bear of a man, has for 10 years hidden his true status as the company's owner, pretending to be just another manager and inventing via e-mail a distant uberboss named Svend. Earnest thespian Kristoffer steps into the role with almost no "direction" from Ravn, variously dodging and playing along with the projected dreams and hostilities of the staff. Gorm (Casper Christensen) is given to violent outbursts, Mette (Louise Mieritz) is terrified whenever the copier whirs into action, assistant Heidi (Mia Lyhne) harbors deep feelings for Svend, while HR rep Lise (Iben Hjejle) not only encourages office sex but insists on it. Actor and Dogme filmmaking disciple Jean-Marc Barr plays a foreign employee who insists on speaking bungled and indecipherable Danish.
Determined to stay true to his "character," Kristoffer continually invokes one Antonio Stavro Gambini, the playwright he reveres above all others. Ravn, for reasons that become increasingly clear, prefers to keep things on the buzzword level, as vague as possible. Kristoffer hits his stride with some table-turning improv involving contracts.
The understated comic performances serve the material well, while Automavision, the credited cinematographer, keeps things aptly off-center with random computer-automated camera angles -- one of which von Trier calls to our attention as a "pointless zoom."
THE BOSS OF IT ALL
IFC Films/IFC First Take
A Zentropa Entertainments 21/Memfis Film Intl./Slot Machine/Lucky Red production
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Lars von Trier
Producers: Meta Louise Foldager, Vibeke Windelov, Signe Jensen
Executive producers: Lene Borglum, Peter Albaek Jensen
Director of photography: Automavision
Costume designer: Manon Rasmussen
Editor: Molly Malene Stensgaard
Cast:
Kristoffer: Jens Albinus
Ravn: Peter Gantzler
Finnur: Fridrik Thor Fridriksson
Lise: Iben Hjejle
Mette: Louise Mieritz
Heidi A.: Mia Lyhne
Gorm: Casper Christensen
Spencer: Jean-Marc Barr
Interpreter: Benedikt Erlingsson.
Running time -- 100 minutes
No MPAA rating...
PALM SPRINGS -- Taking a break between the second and third installments of his "USA: Land of Opportunities" trilogy, Lars von Trier goes for the jocular in "The Boss of It All", a slight and sprightly bit of fun that's not, however, without teeth. The Danish writer-director concocts a sort of Scandi "Office", gathering an able and willing ensemble for what he drolly describes in introductory voice-over as "a comedy, and harmless as such." It's also a delight. The film screened recently at the Palm Springs festival and is scheduled for limited stateside release in May, when it's sure to attract the von Trier faithful.
Avoiding the overt social commentary of the director's most recent work, "Boss" is perhaps closest in focus to "The Five Obstructions", his 2003 docu on the filmmaking process, in which von Trier played a devilishly entertaining game of one-upmanship with director Jorgen Leth. Here he casts a prankster's eye on actorly affectations, the director-actor relationship and the conventions of throwaway entertainment, all while lampooning the collective delusions of corporate culture.
The wonderful Jens Albinu (who starred in von Trier's 1998 comic drama "The Idiots") plays Kristoffer, an actor hired by businessman Ravn (Peter Gantzler) to play the owner of an IT company -- not onstage, but in the boardroom. During negotiations with Icelandic entrepreneur Finnur (Fridrik Thor Fridriksson), who wants to buy the firm, Kristoffer injects meaningful pauses into his "line readings" that all but stop the dealmaking cold. The perpetually unamused Finnur is convinced that all Danes are wacko. He doesn't know the half of it.
Wanting only to be loved, Ravn, a handsome and affable bear of a man, has for 10 years hidden his true status as the company's owner, pretending to be just another manager and inventing via e-mail a distant uberboss named Svend. Earnest thespian Kristoffer steps into the role with almost no "direction" from Ravn, variously dodging and playing along with the projected dreams and hostilities of the staff. Gorm (Casper Christensen) is given to violent outbursts, Mette (Louise Mieritz) is terrified whenever the copier whirs into action, assistant Heidi (Mia Lyhne) harbors deep feelings for Svend, while HR rep Lise (Iben Hjejle) not only encourages office sex but insists on it. Actor and Dogme filmmaking disciple Jean-Marc Barr plays a foreign employee who insists on speaking bungled and indecipherable Danish.
Determined to stay true to his "character," Kristoffer continually invokes one Antonio Stavro Gambini, the playwright he reveres above all others. Ravn, for reasons that become increasingly clear, prefers to keep things on the buzzword level, as vague as possible. Kristoffer hits his stride with some table-turning improv involving contracts.
The understated comic performances serve the material well, while Automavision, the credited cinematographer, keeps things aptly off-center with random computer-automated camera angles -- one of which von Trier calls to our attention as a "pointless zoom."
THE BOSS OF IT ALL
IFC Films/IFC First Take
A Zentropa Entertainments 21/Memfis Film Intl./Slot Machine/Lucky Red production
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Lars von Trier
Producers: Meta Louise Foldager, Vibeke Windelov, Signe Jensen
Executive producers: Lene Borglum, Peter Albaek Jensen
Director of photography: Automavision
Costume designer: Manon Rasmussen
Editor: Molly Malene Stensgaard
Cast:
Kristoffer: Jens Albinus
Ravn: Peter Gantzler
Finnur: Fridrik Thor Fridriksson
Lise: Iben Hjejle
Mette: Louise Mieritz
Heidi A.: Mia Lyhne
Gorm: Casper Christensen
Spencer: Jean-Marc Barr
Interpreter: Benedikt Erlingsson.
Running time -- 100 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 1/23/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Nouveau fest premiering Von Trier's latest
TORONTO -- Montreal's Festival du Nouveau Cinema on Tuesday said it will host the international premiere of Lars von Trier's The Boss of It All during its 35th edition in October. The Danish-language comedy about the owner of a technology company who hides behind a fictitious president to escape difficult managerial decisions features an ensemble cast that includes Jens Albinus, Casper Christensen, Peter Gantzler and Jean-Marc Barr. The Festival du Nouveau Cinema, the rival to the Montreal World Film Festival, is set to run Oct. 18-28.
- 8/1/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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