Democratische 99 (2009)

We interrupt the regular programming to alert you to the Democratische 99, the annual music list by the Kurtodrome site. The 99 best songs of 2009 aren’t just posted, links have been found for all the songs in the list. That’s one download and 98 links to YouTube. And as you can see from this glorious picture, it’s Marina and the Diamonds who reigns supremely.

All there is for me to say is: here’s the list!

Pain Teens – "The Basement"

Have you ever been shocked by a video? Really shocked? To the extent that several years later you still remember some images: a shaking lamp, a girl behind stairs, violence… Well, as you can tell from the introduction, I have. I once saw a short documentary about a band called Pain Teens on the Dutch television. It included the video for “The Basement”. And like I said, I still remember it. Not only because the song is about a girl that’s being kept in a basement and tortured, but also because some of the lyrics were re-enacted.

Well, thanks to YouTube, I was able to see it once more. I still found it disturbing. Anyway, here it is. Watch it at your own risk.

Millennium 1: Men who hate women

The United States have their hard-boiled detectives and film noir types, but what have the Europeans set against that? Cranky old men in the UK and Scandinavia. Frost, Wallander, Morse… that sort of thing. Lately, the Scandinavians have been busy to ‘invent’ a crime subgenre that benefits from the European diversity. (In case you didn’t know: it generally means that directors need an investment from a couple of countries, countries that in turn ask the director to have a bit of their glorious country inserted into the movie. Thus the European thriller was often an artificial and convoluted creature.) In 2004 the Danish made a crime series (The Eagle) that detailed the maffias and corruption in several countries and for once the result didn’t seem contrived. The series starred von Trier regular Jens Albinus, had music from Jacob Groth and several episodes were directed by Niels Arden Oplev. The latter two helped create the first film of the Millennium trilogy: Men who hate women (a.k.a. Män som hatar kvinnor a.k.a. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo). The signs were good and thanks to the international popularity of the books, there was no need for artifical funding by several European countries. Everyone was happy to honour Stieg Larsson and keep the books as Swedish as possible, so as not to upset the millions of fans.

The Millennium trilogy you see, is based on the three books by journalist Stieg Larsson. Besides being good books, the series also benefited from Larsson’s early death. Larsson wasn’t the best journalist in the world, his friends tell you in the several documentaries on the DVD, but he was devoted to exposing corruption and misogyny. Thus he created three books starring the middle-aged journalist Mikael Blomquist and punk hacker Lisbeth Salander. (Both are in a way versions of what Larsson hoped to be: an relentless investigative journalist and a ballsy person.) Blomquist is on trial for slander and she’s asked by a company to investigate whether he’s honest or not. They don’t meet.
Blomquist is sentenced to a couple of months in jail, but this doesn’t have to happen immediately. This is when Blomquist (played by Michael Nyquist)  is asked to investigate the mysterious disappearing and possible murder of a mogul’s niece. Blomquist accepts the offer, not only because the vanished girl used to be his babysitter. Blomquist soon finds out he’s not particularly welcome in this remote village, where a lot of people have a hidden agenda and/or connections to the extreme right. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Lisbeth Salander concludes Blomquist isn’t the worst egg in the world and offers her help. It’s the birth of an unlikely duo.

There are many good things to say about Men Who Hate Women, but some deserve a special bit of credit. First and foremost the writers, who decided to make Lisbeth Salander’s character more prominent (but without betraying the nature of Larsson’s novel). Equally important is Noomi Rapace, who leaves a lasting impression as the gutsy but troubled Lisbeth Salander. And finally composer Jacob Groth, who went to Eastern Europe to hire the help of one of the biggest choirs, so the film would have a score that may be subtle but stands out. Despite the financial support of a lot of European tv networks it gave this film the feeling of a grand Hollywood production, whilst keeping the grittiness Hollywood films will never have.

Because yes, the title is not Men Who Hate Women without reason: what has happened (and happens) to Lisbeth and several other women is not the sort of thing you can talk about during the next family dinner. And unlike a lot of American films the violence isn’t glorified or beautified. No, it’s shown as brutal and vile as it is. At the same time, Lisbeth Salander isn’t exactly a princess herself: she is raped and takes revenge by returning to the rapist and tattooing a warning message on the rapist’s stomach. Probably not someone who’ll go topless to the beach next summer.
But it’s exactly this sort of behaviour (the fact that both Blomquist and Salander have their serious flaws) that makes this film so believable and good.

And hardcore fans of the film should watch out for the DVD, which is the extended version of the film (as shown on Swedish television). For the film, a subplot that wasn’t necessary was deleted, reducing the cinema version by 30 minutes. This puts Men Who Hate Women closer to The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King which did a similar thing and luckily not closer to a lot of other European films which could only get support from networks if they’d added extra footage (read: bonus fodder) so the networks could broadcast the film as a mini-series (thereby filling their schedules for two or three weeks, but reducing the film’s power – but it’s not as if networks tend to care about quality).

Millennium 1: Men Who Hate Women may be bold and brutal, but it’s good European cinema. The Americans, who are not too keen of the brutalness of the film, have announced they’ll remake the film in 2011. It’s already the least anticipated movie of the decade. Misogyny isn’t a fun subject and this film proves you can show it in a film, without reducing yourself to the level of the 80s rape revenge movies like Extremities. Mainly because most abused women aren’t Farrah Fawcett and fairy tale endings don’t always exist in real life. We may seem civilized but underneath this thin layer of manners lies a dark world. Thus spoke Stieg Larsson.

8.5/10

No Superhero But Quite Schlock

A couple of years ago I was selling some VHS tapes on behalf of a couple of people, one of which tried to convince me of the coolness of Cynthia Rothrock. Rothrock made martial arts movies, but somehow I couldn’t really be convinced of her talent, mainly because one of her movies was Undefeated. I had to check it (it’s always best to check the quality prior to selling something on eBay) and subsequently learned that ripping cloth off a shirt is apparently quite painful. Anyway, enjoy this scene which I found again while looking for another Superhero Schlock film.

P.S. Be sure to check the Top of 2009 again, to see where Orphan (which I’d overlooked while preparing the list) ended up.

De Laatste Dagen van Emma Blank

Dutch director Alex van Warmerdam has already been responsible for several films: Abel, De Noorderlingen (The Northeners), De Jurk (The Dress), Kleine Teun (Little Tony), Grimm and Ober (Waiter). Compared to its predecessors, De Laatste Dagen van Emma Blank (The last days of Emma Blank) sticks out because of its long title. However, the director’s typical touch has not been altered: this film too displays a wit so dry it’s waterproof.

Oddly enough, this film has been met with a lot of criticism because of its artificial setting. Surely this sort of argument doesn’t make sense: we’re talking about a film by van Warmerdam, whose De Noorderlingen featured a prefab village in the 1950s where a woman is suddenly idolised for her religious gifts, whose Ober featured a waiter who started complaining to the screenplay writer about his role in the film… van Warmerdam’s movie thrive on tiptoeing on the line between realism and surrealism.

This film introduces us to Emma Blank, an eccentric woman who is on the verge of dying… or so she claims. Blank doesn’t look that ill but insists of being taken care of by her staff, a butler, a cook, a maid, a gardener and the doglike Theo (played by director van Warmerdam himself). That’s right, there’s a man, who may or may not be mentally handicapped, pretending to be a dog. Early on in the film, we learn that Emma’s butler is actually her husband, but just how the other people in the house are connected to each other isn’t clear. Nor is it obvious why they choose to remain in the same house as the tyrannic Emma Blank. It’s all a mystery, much like Emma’s fatal disease.

What I like most about this film, apart from its black comedy, is that most of the film is set in or near Emma’s house. This – as I mentioned before, in my review of the director’s previous film, Ober – is van Warmerdam’s forte: give the man a location the characters can hardly escape from and he gives you a piece of gold. Emma Blank does organize the occasional outing, but it’s immediately obvious that staying home would’ve been a better option.
Also, most of the characters are not exactly innocent lambs, so you don’t mind too much that a lot of bad stuff happens to them. Sure, most of them can be forgiven for their deeds, but only one character (the gardener) is not that morally abject as most of the others.

I guess that’s what a lot of people find off-putting, the lack of people you can empathize with. To me, the idea of watching people suffering from living inside a prison they wanted to be in can be the base of a good black comedy. To me, De laatste dagen van Emma Blank also proves Alex van Warmerdam is very much an auteur director, someone with a typical and personal style. This may not be the most accessible of his movies but to fans of his work it should be a treat.

8/10 (and the n°5 in my Top 10 of 2009)

Broadcast’s Valerie

Time for some music and a cult movie. Let’s see if we can pull that off in one go…

Combining one of the better bands around and clips from one of the more underrated cult movies, here’s Broadcast with Valerie, set to clips from Valerie and her week of wonders. You can find this track on Broadcast’s 2003 album Ha Ha Sound.

Film 2009: the Top 10

Twelve months of film condensed into one list of ten films. Please note that (for the very first time) the top five exists of three Swedish movies and two Dutch movies. Odder than ever before, here’s my Best of 2009.

1. LET THE RIGHT ONE IN

People who didn’t like horror already had their vampire film to cherish (Twilight, starring the allegedly yummy Robert Pattinson), but now there’s a horror film horror fans can show to horror haters: the name is Let The Right One In and it’s my n°1 of 2009. (full review here)

2. MILLENNIUM: MEN WHO HATE WOMEN

The first film in the trilogy based on Stieg Larsson‘s books does what a film adaptation should do: have good performances, re-invent the book to make a better film out of it (without betraying the book, director Niels Arden Oplev made hacker Lisbeth Salander’s character more prominent) and having two releases: the original tv version (2 episodes of 90 minutes) and a cinema version (which cuts out the  less essential storyline but keep the story complete). Films two and three will hit the European continent in 2010, an American remake is already scheduled and at this moment the least anticipated film of 2011. (full review in January)

3. HET ECHTE LEVEN

I gave it my best shot and awarded this movie 8.5/10. I’m not sure if the movie would’ve received an 8 or a 9 if it had been directed by another director. Het Echte Leven isn’t perfect, but it’s quirky and has the ability to bring a smile to your face when you’re walking past your movies and get to the letter E (provided you archive your movies in alphabetical order). (full review here)

4. INVOLUNTARY (HAPPY SWEDEN)

An older man who’s hit in the eye by fireworks, a singer on a coach trip that’s halted because of vandalism, two young girls into booze and webcam dances, male bonding that crosses the lines, a teacher whose righteous remarks turn her into an outcast… De Ofrivilliga is a film about peer pressure, or as we said it earlier this year: “Involuntary (Happy Sweden) shows its nature in the title. Part of it shows the shortcomings of the human race, the bracketed part is highly ironic. De Ofrivilliga is a social drama but there’s plenty to laugh at, even if it’s not always out loud.” (full review here)

5. DE LAATSTE DAGEN VAN EMMA BLANK

Plot synopsis: This jet-black comedy from Dutch director Alex van Warmerdam concerns a nasty woman named Emma Blank (Marlies Heuer). A crabby geriatric who lives in a seaside villa and is gradually withering away from cancer, she treats her servants like dogs. Her constant browbeating pushes them beyond the point of indignation and ultimately threatens to incite a small-scale rebellion. (full review pending)

6. ORPHAN

The story of a nice couple (with a somewhat dark history) adopting a sweet, clever girl from an orphanage. Isn’t she sweet? No, she isn’t. Had director Collet-Serra not gone for the easy “I’m gonna scare you” tricks (e.g. the closing of a medicine cabinet with mirrors on it… ooh, you never know if something’s there behind the actress… or the camera pretending someone’s following someone but there isn’t), this would’ve been a contender for Best Film of 2009. All hail to Isabelle Fuhrman‘s portrayal of the not so innocent orphan.

7. THE WRESTLER

The Wrestler, the latest Darren Aronofsky offering, surely doesn’t pose as a feelgood movie (…) The film ends in a way not unsimilar to Aranofsky’s earlier film Requiem for a Dream. The man sure likes his climaxes. (Full review here)

8. EDEN LAKE

Some of my friends also watched the movie and while our rating of the movie differs (between 3 to 4.5 stars out of 5), there are a couple of things we could all agree on: the film is thought-provoking and quite disturbing. So let’s skip the score and rate the movie with words… Eden Lake is “disturbing and thought-provoking”/10. (Full review here)

9. TWO LOVERS

Given that 2009 was the year a lot of films were hard to rate, there was no doubt Eden Lake and Antichrist had to be in the top ten, which made it a tough cookie to crack for the eighth spot: I could go all the way and give it to Moon or make an effort to show you normal films were also made this year. In the end, I didn’t pick Moon because, as interesting as it was, it left me unfulfilled and because I was annoyed at the lousy spelling of the word ‘satellite’ (it’s always written as ‘sattelite’ at the top of the video messages). So let’s give this spot n°8 to Two Lovers (or Two Lovvers as Moon would put it), which was reviewed here.

10. ANTICHRIST

Arguably the best review of Lars von Trier’s latest film (by critic Kurt Vandemaele) included this sentence: “When fans claim only von Trier could make this movie, they’re forgetting only von Trier would want to make this movie.” Truer words still need to be discovered. Antichrist, the latest movie by von Trier, is one hell of a bad trip. (Full review here)

Bubbling under…
11. LONDON RIVER
12. MOON
13. PARANORMAL ACTIVITY
14. FISH TANK
15. THE HURT LOCKER
16. SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
17. TOWELHEAD
18. ANVIL! THE STORY OF ANVIL
19. DER BAADER/MEINHOF KOMPLEX
20. PANIQUE AU VILLAGE

Let The Right One In

Hello and welcome to 2010! On this very first day of the year it’s custom to do two things, pondering about the future (all the best from me and the others behind DV) and looking back at the year we’ve survived. If the media reviews are anything to go by, 2009 was pretty gloomy. Maybe the Mexican flu was even the jolliest thing of the year. Looking back at my film top 10 of 2009 (the list appears next Monday), two things became apparent: on the one hand 2009 was the year Sweden boomed (three films in the top five), on the other hand young girls were not always what they seemed. One film combined both factors and is my deserved number one: Let The Right One In.

Yes, it may surprise you, but this is the first review of this film here at DV, despite appearing in most of our lists. I can’t vouch for the others, but I had the wicked plan to save the best for last. And no, nothing seemed a better number one than this one. True, it is overhyped, but it’s a great film that does deserve the attention. It even managed – and this is quite rare – to be liked by people who generally don’t like horror, which is quite an achievement. Even the Lord of the Rings trilogy (excellently directed by Peter Jackson) still struggles from convincing people who hate sci-fi, fantasy and horror to watch it. For some reason, Let The Right One In manages to fill the gaps.

The film introduces us to Oskar, a young boy who’s bullied by a couple of classmates. In his anger, he takes a knife and stabs a tree, imagining the tree is the bully. He’s observed doing this by a young girl, who’s just moved in next to Oskar’s mother. The girl is Eli, possibly even more of a loner than Oskar and adamant Oskar won’t be allowed to become her boyfriend. Eli has a good reason for that, as we’ll find out later in the movie.

Actually, I don’t know why I’m still hiding the plot of one of the most talked about movies of 2009, but at least we’re still sticking by the rules. So why is this a horror movie? Well, it’s actually a good point: despite involving vampires and the occasional spontaneous combustion, Låt den rätte komma in (to use its original title for once) adds as much drama to the film as there are horror elements. It looks as if this film was the breakthrough film for director Tomas Alfredson (°1965), whose next project will include Gwyneth Paltrow and Nicole Kidman (whose botox overdoses have made her a horror genre of her own). And even though Kåre Hedebrant was quite convincing as the badly plagued Oskar, there’s no denying Lina Leandersson makes quite the startling debut as Eli.

Above all (and this does perhaps explain why it’s so popular) Let The Right One In chooses beauty above gore, a more uncommon approach. The film benefits from its snowy environment, but even in the other scenes the director paid a lot of care to how the movie would look on screen. Gore is there, but hardly ever is it emphasized (quite a welcome exchange to the thousands of recent horror movies which believe they’ll be so much better because they use gallons of fake blood).

So there you have it… people who didn’t like horror already had their vampire film to cherish (Twilight, starring the allegedly yummy Robert Pattinson), but now there’s a horror film horror fans can show to horror haters: the name is Let The Right One In and it’s my n°1 of 2009.