Northwest

'Nordvest' is a Danish film about a young criminal. Casper is a house burglar who sells what he steals to an Arab gang. But when one of the Arabs steals Casper's watch, Casper - completely missing the irony that he himself had stolen the watch in the first place - starts working for a rival gang, eventually getting his younger (and dimmer) brother involved also.

So far, so predictable - and the film largely is, even down to Casper's tender relationship with his toddler sister - hey, he's a thug with a heart! But a thug is still a thug and so it is difficult to feel any sympathy for him as events spiral beyond his control. In the lead role, Gustav Dyekjær Giese does a nice line in cool, and the film is definitely worth watching once - but only once.

Even in the welfare society, it is difficult for a single mother to raise 3 children, particularly if two are teens whose need for money and approval is high. And less decent neighborhood includes several lures difficult to resist... Such is the background where two brothers Casper and Andy - leading characters of the film - have to cope. Surroundings is ugly and hard, with lots of gangs and violence, and outside help is scarcely available (incl. police or special organisations) - apart from adult criminals (such as Bjørn or Jamal) eager to use the youngsters' unshaped personality. But sooner or later, you have to make choices, and in such a way living, it is usually between bad and worse... The ending scenes are logical, although the very end could have been less brusque; well, it was intentional, I guess, for viewers pondering on and over.

The cast is rather uneven, the real brothers Dyekjær Gieses depict Casper and Andy well and in a realistic manner, but all the others were uninviting to me. The plot seemed unsteady, floating as well, some scenes remained incomplete or provided no additional meaning to the film. Or I am just unable to see more values because I have been "spoiled" by distinguishable acting (e.g. Mikkelsens, Bodnia, Lie Kaas) and more sophisticated plots (e.g. Vinterberg, Vinding Refn) visible in Danish films.

A nice story of small gangsters trying to stay above water. The relationships in this and the characters are well drawn and avoid getting into too many cliché traps. The movie/script is well written too of course, but it is the actors who carry the weight. It's tough playing off each other and making the audience buy that.

I doubt this will be your first venture into crime story foray, but if you have a knack for European style of showing things (read: not as fancy as a Hollywood Blockbuster would show them), you will really relish watching this. There is violence and there is many adult situations happening, so you should be fine with watching that. If that is the case, there is a more than decent movie to enjoy here

I saw this at Pifan 2013 in Bucheon, South Korea, and while I've seen several Danish movies that were so-so to lackluster, this one was entertaining.

Caspar is a young man who has a single mother and two siblings in Copenhagen. He burglarizes homes and sells the stuff he steals to an Arab thug, Jamal, who cheats him all the time. Caspar is later offered a job with a pimp named Bjorn and starts to earn good money. But Jamal is angry that Caspar is working for someone else and seeks revenge.

The movie was interesting and the characters seemed real, though I don't know much about Denmark. I'd say this was worth a watch, though the ending seemed a bit flat.

Some people expect that Scandinavia has no problems; here you can see gangs and violence in Denmark. "Nordwest" is very entertaining movie about Danish underworld. Besides that, it is important to highlight the successful narrative strategy chosen by movie makers: exploring the contrasts. Throughout the movie, until the very end, the story alternates between family life and crime, poor and wealthy living, immigrants and white men, intimidation and fear, child innocence and bandit violence, preserving the brother and introducing him to the gang, defenseless prostitutes and mob warriors, noise and silence, fast pace and stillness. I strongly recommend this film. Some people complained about the end, but I think it was a great idea. Indeed, that's the difference between obvious formulas and the mastery of the cinema language.