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Du levande (2007)
The Dreamy Reality of the Living
It is not often that a film combines dream and reality or tragedy and comedy the way that Roy Anderson's film Du Levande, You, the Living, does (Sweden, 2007). The simple title of this film simultaneously calls out to viewers and states the film's subject, "You, the Living." This film is a portrayal of the living, of the dirty, gritty, comically painful parts of life that the living experience. The film is composed of fifty vignettes portraying different aspects of life for different characters all set to the soundtrack of Dixieland jazz music partly adapted from music by ABBA's Benny Andersson. The film has many characters but the starring roles go to Elisabet Helander, Björn Englund, and Jessika Lundberg.
To give even a very brief plot summary of this film is a nearly impossible task. To fully understand the plot of this film, explanations of each vignette are necessary. The film has many story lines that rarely intersect, and these intersections are insignificant at best. There is little character development, and only one character's name is mentioned enough to commit to memory. Essentially, each vignette is a portrayal of an ordinary life occurrence that is a little bit quirkier than normal in an attempt to elicit amusement from the audience. To summarize some of the stories, there is a couple whose fights cause them to get into trouble at their work, a groupie hopelessly in love with a guitarists and dreams of their marriage, a self absorbed woman who feels as if nobody understands her and is frustrated when she receives attention from the wrong man, a carpenter who daydreams that he is put to death for breaking china, and the leader of the film's music, a man who plays the sousaphone at funerals. Clearly, the stories do not make for a coherent synopsis.
This film is billed as a comedy and in some senses, I would agree with this. However, for me, it was the kind of amusement that I get from hearing about humorous daily trials from my friends and not the kind of comedy that I usually enjoy, comedy that is seated deeply in relationships between developed characters and circumstances beyond the ordinary. And while many of the circumstances seemed beyond the ordinary, such as the man who dreamt that he was given the electric chair for breaking a two hundred year old china set, the ordinary, lighthearted humor seeps its way into every scene, manifested in this specific scene as the electric chair operator reading the manual to figure out how the chair works. The circumstances vary in their commonality, but the thread of humor based in reality is is woven through each vignette.
With depicting various life situations that are somewhat standard for the people involved, the out of place Dixieland music in the background made the film interesting, and tied the scenes together. From the first scene to the last, this lighthearted and carefree music colored the mundane backdrop of this film. Another interesting technique that added depth to the film was the choice of filter, which had an unrealistic and dreamlike quality to it, making a shot of an apartment seem more tenuous, more ethereal, less ordinary.
Personally, the humor of this film is not something I particularly enjoy but I did appreciate it for many reasons. Like I said before, this film has the incredible ability to combine the difficult messy details of reality with dreamy hopes and fears creating a film that is both amusing and saddening. Something I enjoyed about the film was that I could relate to it. I, along with all "the living," can connect with the funny mundane moments in the film where one can only respond with the phrase "such is life" and the frustrating and troubling places we can get stuck in as a result of these circumstances. The duality of the film, the fine line between reality and dream that this film dances on, is what garners it so much critical acclaim. While I may not appreciate its content, I know this film is artistically skilled and can understand how it has won awards in both the United States and the Nordic Countries, among other places.
The director of this film has said that it took three years to get all of the shots together the way he envisioned them. I think that fact speaks to the film as a whole. The complexity that was creating these sets of "ordinary" life mirrors the complexity that is "ordinary" life, in line with what I see as the film's purpose: to depict the difficult intricacy of life, in all its humorous glory.
Himlens hjärta (2008)
A Theatrical Production on the Silver Screen
For many films, huge special effects, dramatic plot lines, particularly good-looking people and scenic filming locations are used as a crutch for the film lean on, a way for the film to hide a meaningless and shallow plot. When viewers are able to see through the superficiality that a film like this depends on, the viewer is left wanting more. It is not very often that a film comes along that mimics the skilled techniques of a quality theatrical production, moving audiences with no special effects, a small cast of average looking actors or actresses, and ordinary sets. Himlens Hjarta (Heaven's Heart, 2008. Sweden) is one of the few films that is able to do so much with so little. This heartbreakingly stirring film is about two couples, their opinions on adultery, and the way they cope with adultery once they are faced with it. The fabric of this film is made up of four characters, two ordinary home settings, and not a stitch of special effects. This film, though not an example of the upbeat entertainment most look for in films, earns merit based on its simplicity.
Heaven's heart tells the story of two couples. Ulf and Ann, the first married couple, are best friends with Susanna and Lars, the other married couple. The film follows the couples at dinner parties and other interactions at their two homes, all centering on the topic of adultery. Through a conversation at their first dinner party in the film, the viewers are enlightened to their individual opinions on the matter. Lars and Ann are adamantly opposed to adultery in any form while Ulf and Susanna seem to think there are some exceptions. Ironically, it is Lars and Ann who begin an affair, putting to the test all that their formerly understanding spouses had said on the matter previously. Ulf seems more understanding than Susanna, ultimately, and the movie ends on a bittersweet note where one couple finds a way to move past and the other ends broken.
This is not a film I would normally enjoy watching. This film is not an escape but rather a reminder of the loss of trust, a common experience in society. This theme is woven throughout the film, along with the theme of deception, as the audience is privy to the cheating being hidden from friends and spouses. The film is also not visually stimulating. The costumes are everyday clothing, the sets look like average Scandinavian homes, and the cast is made up of four actors. The realistic aspect of the film that those simple choices provide gives the viewer the sense that they are at a theater rather than watching a film.
One aspect of this film that stood out to me, that a theatrical production would be unable to produce, is the different shots the director chose to use to magnify the scenes. The shots in this film are still and simple. There is not a single time that the camera pans, there are only a few times when it slowly zooms in, and only a few shots are shown with more than one person. The shots of characters alone, closely showing the emotions displayed on their expressive faces, magnifies the isolation each character feels as they are alienated from their friends and their spouse, navigating through unfamiliar relationship issues.
Though the four characters are ordinary in many ways, their acting is anything but. Mikael Persbrandt (Lars), Lena Endre (Susanna), Jakob Eklund (Ulf), and Maria Lundqvist (Ann) make up this stellar cast. The cast is able to portray the difficult circumstances and their individual heartbreak in a way that the audience leaves feeling like they just lost their friends and spouse. Quick wit and sharp jabs, especially from Susanna towards her husband Lars, show clearly the anger that is felt because of his betrayal, betrayal that she had been justifying within someone else's life earlier in the film. And while this anger accumulates and their relationship ends in a divorce attorney's office, Ann and Ulf rekindle what they had lost, proving the old phrase "you don't know what you've got until it is gone."
The bittersweet aspect of this film's ending comes from the fact that while Lars thought he had found what he was looking for in Ann, he wrecked his relationship with his wife, his best friend, and ended up helping Ann and Ulf rekindle their romance. The film leaves audiences in a moral dilemma. While many can see that the film shows the moral high ground as Lars, the cheating husband, ends up estranged from his wife and daughter, the flip side is that Ann, the cheating wife, ends up with the life she has always dreamed of thus posing the question to the audience that the couples began the film trying to figure out. Is there any justification for adultery?
Technically speaking, this film excels in many ways that traditional films do not. And while I greatly appreciate this aspect of the film, I did not necessarily enjoy the film. I usually look for a film to show me something different, something unexpected, not ordinary and tragic aspects of life. The realism is what distinguishes this film from others but also the reason why I didn't enjoy it. Appreciate it? Yes. Enjoy? Not so much.
Síðasti bærinn (2004)
Heartbreaking yet Heartwarming
This film is the story of Hrafn and his beloved wife Groa who live on a secluded farm in Iceland. Surrounded by peaceful sea and grand mountains, their modest farmhouse fits perfectly into its surroundings. The film follows Hrafn's routine as he finishes his chores, preparing to leave the farm, the last farm in the area. Through a phone call with his daughter Lilja and a conversation with a deliveryman, the audience learns that the couple is finishing their last chores before moving to "the lap of luxury." However the audience is subtly enlightened to something more going on. Hrafn, in both conversations previously mentioned, says Groa is napping and not available to visit. Also, Hrafn makes sure that his daughter is not visiting until the weekend is out. We soon find that all his preparations are for the burial of his wife. While the phone is ringing and Lilja waits on the other end of the line for her father to pick up, Hrafn places a bible on his wife who is laying in the coffin he built for her. He lowers her coffin into a grave he dug himself, lies next to her in the grave and finally releases a truck to dump dirt onto the pair, burying himself next to his beloved wife just as Lilja arrives in the driveway.
While the summary may seem detailed for a movie review, it is in the details that short films find their stride. Runar Runarsson's use of various techniques sets this film above many others. The first thing viewers notice is the use of camera angles and the differentiating of shots that add depth to the film. Shots of Hrafn standing peacefully in the center as the camera pans the scenery around him accentuate how alone and abandoned he is. Many close ups of his worn hands, especially focusing on his left hand, bring the audience's awareness to his many labors, labors of love for his beloved wife. Shots never focusing on his wife, always placing her in the dark, until her burial, indicate to the audience that she has passed. Since the film has very little dialog, the camera work does a lot of the talking.
The sound editing of this film is phenomenal, another detail that sets this film apart. For such a short film, the film score by Kjartan Sveinsson is on par with a score for a major motion picture. I do not think this film would be what it is without the score. First of all, the score helped to supplement the dialog and tell the story along with the camera shots. The foreboding and solemn music is absent during many parts of the film but creeps into the scenes involving Hrafn and his wife whether it is when he lays down to sleep next to her body, his work on her coffin and digging of their grave, or his final laying down next to her before the burial. The music is absent when outsiders break into his sacred world and threaten to make themselves privy to his secret. The exaggerated sounds that Hrafn makes through his routine underscore that this is the last time he will be doing this routine. The constant, labored sound of his breathing indicates to the audience that this could be the end for him too. In the scene where he is laying down to bed next to his wife, the magnified sound of his clock ticking subtly hints to the audience that this is the end for them both, that their time is running out. Besides being blown away by the technical aspects of this film, the story line is compelling and full despite the fact that this is a short film with very little dialog. It shows more skill on the part of the director and other crew workers to create such a gripping film with so little. With less than twenty minutes, the film captured my heart and I found myself aching along with Hrafn as he labored through his final acts of love for his wife. Though never seeing them alive together, there is no doubt to the audience what kind of love the two shared in both life and death. Their story is poignant and makes the audience question whether they have known them for twenty minutes or twenty years. The theme of abandonment in the film is heartbreaking to the audience. Hrafn is the last farmer in the area and we sense that Hrafn and his wife have also been, in a sense, abandoned by not only the other farms in the area and their friends but their daughter too. Hrafn is then abandoned by his wife as she passes away first. Finally, Hrafn abandons his farm and the life he once had to move on and join his wife in death. However strong the theme of abandonment may be, its sadness is overpowered by the heartwarming theme of love in this film. Throughout the film, every action Hrafn takes is through love. Taking care of his farm for the last time, ensuring his daughter would be spared the pain of seeing her parents both die, taking care to give his wife a proper burial, and joining with her in death are all actions he did out of love. This film, though under twenty minutes long and with little dialog, is as rich and full as a full- length feature film. The expert use of film techniques underscores the themes and enlightens the audience to the secret being keep by the main character without the use of so many words. The director knew how to not only let the sound direction and camera angles speak but also how to balance out the themes, heartbreaking and heartwarming, so that the audience feels whole at the films completion. The director gives audiences a chance to fall in love with the characters the way Hrafn and Groa fell in love with one another.