Copenhagen

I hope there's going to be a sequel, like in the 'Before Sunrise' trilogy, where he goes back to Copenhagen in 6 years when she's 21 and he's 34 and age will be irrelevant at that point!!

Shot in the beautiful city of (you guessed it) Copenhagen, Denmark, the film follows 28-year-old William (Gethin Anthony) as he searches for his grandfather with nothing to guide him besides a letter—written in Danish, which William can not read nor speak—that his father wrote around 40 years ago. After his best friend Jeremy (Sebastian Armesto) and Jeremy's girlfriend (Olivia Grant) leave him to search the city on his own, William enlists the help of a local girl, Effy (Frederikke Dahl Hansen), to aid him in his search. The two begin to form a budding romance, until William discovers that Effy is only 14 years old. Though Copenhagen begins as a search to find one's family, it soon becomes clear that it's far more important to find one's self. Through William's character, Raso paints a vividly accurate portrait of having to mature and develop as one travels through their 20s. Both Anthony and Hansen give remarkable performances, artistically presenting a great deal of sentiment. I personally prefer to remain eternally seven, but Raso gives a great argument on the benefits of growing up.

I am very protective of my movie time and end watching a film the moment it veers off to the nowhere land. So, obviously I watched "Copenhagen" to the end. If you liked "Before sunrise" trilogy, the movie aspires to them, except the script here is the main problem and that's a shame. So, the actors: the main character played by Gethin Anthony does what he can with the script but because the script is flat, his talents go unsupervised and honestly I got lost at times. For example, why he goes in fits and is so mad or angry at times? Why a young American be so rude to a cute teenage waitress who spilled coffee on a table? It's almost unheard of. The guy travels in Europe for a while too, so, it doesn't fit the profile. Moreover, if he was not on good terms with his father why is he even judgmental towards his grandfather? Why is he constantly quarreling with his best friend? I donno. On the other hand, Effy, the main female lead character is resourceful, energetic and awkward at times which is fine as she is supposed to be 14 rather than 20 as the real age of the actress. Her role is better developed in the script. The plot: the main idea of a family search for a long lost grandpa is meaningless to the viewer, there is no background to prompt the interest and appears to be only in the movie to hold the movie together. However, all those bits and pieces are beautifully glued by Copenhagen's images of cobbled narrow streets, canals and crowded clubs and interesting music in the background. That, the cute Danish accent and the age of Effy add to the more dimensional atmosphere of the film. There is something I cannot point to, perhaps the nostalgia (I lived in Sweden for more than a year and have great memories) or the fact that the main character grows up suddenly and makes the right choice made this film interesting enough for me to watch it to the end.

The age of sexual consent in Denmark is 15. That's why the main female character kept mentioning her upcoming birthday. I had been wondering like other reviewers, why they would make the character 14, thereby adding a sort of pedophile angle to an otherwise interesting film.

Why not just have her be 17? But they had to make her 14,because at 15 the whole underage conflict would no longer exist as a legal question. Although it still would as a moral issue. Enough on that.

I don't know why they chose English actors to play Americans, but this male lead was totally natural and believable. I consider him the star of this movie. The other reviewers are "gaga" over the girl.

But remember that we are viewing her as non-Danish people. We are sucked in by her accent and the scenery. But if we were Danish ourselves, we might just think she is an appealing young thing, without being in awe of her.

Having said that, of course she did a nice job of portraying a precocious girl from a broken home with just the right amount of worldly wisdom and sincere innocence.

Other reviewers have skillfully pinpointed the fact that these guys were emotionally immature while the underage girl is emotionally advanced. Because of that, it makes perfect sense why they would be drawn to her.

The movie highlights a certain prolonged adolescence prevalent in many Western men. It takes some a long time to grow up.

Essentially the movie features a substantial character arc. A selfish, boorish guy learns what it means to truly care about another person, both in terms of his father and his new female friend.

I really wanted to know what he did for a living back home. I didn't need a long description of it, but it would give some much-needed context. I also needed to know about his mom. This background information could have been satisfied in a few brief remarks or one conversation.

Copenhagen looks nice. I don't know enough about Cinematography to judge it here, but there were definitely some nicely framed shots of water and colorful homes.

The music was a key factor for me. There is a scene where our male lead is walking on a beach or something, and there is a dramatic electronic beat steadily gaining volume and steam. I loved that.

Check it out. It's worth watching, despite the creepiness of the age-related sexual tension.

Copenhagen is a catching story.

It's a very pleasant film and the Author (Mark Raso, a very talented young filmmaker: this is his first / debut feature film...) seems perfectly aware that the best thing you can do, as an artist, is to entertain.

The movie is an hour and a half of youthful wandering through Denmark, without any dull or dead moments, filmed with very good taste (and very good acting).

Of course I noticed that (as stated in the synopsis) the girl is younger than the boy. But this is hardly the main theme.

Actually you can find many things in the movie, from sex addiction to finding-your-roots, but these (on my opinion) are just as the canvas on which the writer made his characters act.

Enjoy.