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Mifunes sidste sang [VHS]

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

Despite the fact that it adheres to the strict aesthetic tenets of Dogma 95, Mifune is about as accessible as a romantic comedy named after a Japanese actor can get. Although Soren Kragh-Jacobsen's film, like the Dogma releases that preceded it (Breaking the Waves and The Celebration) eschews special effects, incidental music, etc., Mifune isn't nearly as dark.

Kresten (Anders W. Berthelsen) is an ambitious businessman who has successfully concealed his rural past until it catches up with him upon the death of his father. He leaves his new wife (who just happens to be his boss' daughter) after the honeymoon, telling her he'll be back soon, but sparing her as many details as possible. And so he returns to the ancestral farm, hoping to tie up a few loose ends and then return to his comfortably bourgeois existence in the city. But the situation at home turns out to be far worse than he thought, particularly in regards to his mentally challenged brother, Rud (Jasper Asholt), who simply will not leave the house.

Then there's Liva (Iben Hjejle from High Fidelity), an attractive woman who, ironically enough, has just moved to the country in order to escape her not-so-comfortable life in the city. She is soon joined by her rambunctious little brother...and fellow call girls.

Throughout the chaos, it is Rud who shares Kresten's love of the great Akira Kurosawa's samurai epics starring the gruff and grumbly Toshiro Mifune (thus providing the film with some of its most most amusing moments) and serving to remind Kresten what was good about his past and why it just may be worth holding on to after all.

MIFUNE is a Danish film and is the third release from DOGME. DOGME is a group of filmmakers that include Lars Von Trier(BREAKING THE WAVES) and Thomas Vinterberg(FESTEN-CELEBRATION). They have banded together in the hopes of changing the way films are made. Simplifying the production techniques and solving problems creatively as opposed to financially. I think you'll enjoy this film if your more patient than the average moviegoer. If you are a fan of foreign films and you are comfortable with long pauses of silence it's highly recommended. The landscape of the country looks stunning and the acting is first rate.

This is a very good movie that has three things going for it...

1. It's an excellent example of the Dogme style of filmmaking, carried out most notably over the past eight years by Lars von Trier. And since von Trier's most notable work is so draining to watch, you can get acclimated to Dogme with "Mifune" director Søren Kragh-Jacobsen's far lighter touch.

2. It's great to see Iben Hjejle acting in her native tongue. She was a pleasant surprise in John Cusack's adaptation of Nick Hornby's "High Fidelity." As impressive as she was in a secondary language, she's even better here in Danish.

3. The main story is a compelling one following the different life paths of brothers Kresten and Rud and the events that bring them back together. Unfortunately, from glancing at the usual misguided US coverbox, you'd never know it was the brothers' tale that forms the emotional core of the film. The event depicted on the box - the alluring shot of 'working girls' shooting the breeze - constitutes about 5% of what this film is about. Why do US marketers feel the need to deceive us like this?

Note that this film is also known as "Mifunes Sidste Sang" (its original Danish title) and "Dogme 3" (the Dogme practitioners got together and released their films as a series).

"Mifune" is definitely worth checking out.

MIFUNE (Mifunes sidste sang) is a fine example of the focus which the DOGMA approach brings to acting in a film. Anders Berthelsen holds the film together with his endearing performance as the Copenhagen yuppie who must face his "discarded" past to redefine his personal values. Berthelsen is a familiar face to Danish moviegoers and has a truly "natural" quality that serves the DOGMA director (in this case Søren Kragh-Jacobsen) quite well. Iben Hjejle (also of HIGH FIDELITY)shines on screen as Liva, a still-reforming prostitute whose path leads her to Berthelsen and his mentally challenged brother Rud (played with incredible heart and verve by Jesper Asholt). The trio of central actors meets every DOGMA challenge facing it (including those acted-straight-through scenes) with the kind of energy sadly lacking in most high-budget American films. More importantly the film has something to say about how people treat each other (brought to a head in a speech by Hjejle to her snotty teenage brother Bjarke). There is one ludicrous slip in judgment involving Hjejle's prostitute friends and some inane "revenge" on Berthelsen. Otherwise, this is an excellent that film should have been nominated for an Academy Award.

I've been consistently impressed with the Dogme films and Mifune, the most recent addition, was no exception. And as a romantic comedy, albeit darkly-tinged, Mifune is a unique presence in the dogme repetoire. While it has hard-hitting moments, it also has an off-beat humor that is generously warm and charming. The growing affection I felt for the motley collection of characters gently crept up on me, and I settled into this film like an easy chair. Be assured, this is skilled filmmaking, with an eye for character development and stong storytelling. Hollywood would love to make a romantic comedy this good, but rarely hits the mark. (I wouldn't be surprised if a studio optioned this for an American remake.) Most surprising: Mifune is also one of the best-looking of the dogme films. The technical production values seemed uniformly strong and images appeared well-lit, even the night sequences. Overall, the film had a crisp look. Had I not known this was a dogme film, I'd of never guessed. Makes one wonder if the new, light-adaptive camera technologies and improved film stocks may render an aesthetic like dogme's moot.

"Mifune" isn't a great film, but it sure is fun to watch. Part of the Dogma 95, the first comedy made under those rules, it is sort of like watching leafs falling off of threes. You find it beautiful, but at the same times, it feels like death. And that's what Mifune is all about. You never quite know how to feel about this film, but at the end you feel a sort of loveliness in your heart, and that's fun. Iben Hjejle( who also had a role in High Fidelity), is quite impressive as Liva a prostitute who finds herself the maid of a man and his brother who is somehow retarded, in the house that their father lived in. As the story grows, Liva's brother comes to live with them, and that's when the theme of the film lifts. "Mifune" is really about brothers and sisters. Though it doesn't exlpoit it at its full credit, at the end of the movie, you understand those people and their relationship with their brother or sister. That's a good thing.

My third Dogme film turns out to be "Dogme 3"--which is not to say I saw them in anything like their original order: that kind of purposeful viewing just isn't my style. But after having seen three Dogme entries, I believe I'm starting to get the feel for them. Do I find them as revolutionary as all that? Not really, but I do like their spare, bare bones style. As American films become increasingly reliant on high tech wizardry, it's actually refreshing to see someone employ a more Spartan approach.

MIFUNE (aka MIFUNE'S LAST SONG) is as quirky a movie as you're likely to find, a rambling, shambling tale that takes its time getting started, totters a bit along the way and throws in a few extraneous and dubious plot turns. But there's something winning about its offbeat characters, and its equally offbeat way of presenting them.

The misfits-finding-each-other plotline is hardly new. In fact, it's old enough that in order to make it work, you've got to make those misfits pretty darn compelling. MIFUNE's cast of characters is as odd an assortment as you'd ever find. They include: a would-be yuppie attempting to flee his country bumpkin past: a call girl who seeks to escape the harsh realities of her urban existence by fleeing to the country: her troubled, street-wise younger brother: and his sweetly innocent, mentally challenged brother.

You just know these two sets of orphaned siblings are going to merge and form a blended family of their own, not quite a Nordic Brady Bunch, but then again, not as unconventional as all that either. There are the requisite misadventures and misunderstandings before the somewhat muted happy ending. And you know, for my money, that's fine. This movie and ITALIAN FOR BEGINNERS prove that even would-be cinematic revolutionaries can make pretty effective feel-good movies--a little darker and more offbeat than their American counterparts, but ultimately upbeat all the same. Nothing wrong with that.

On the day after his wedding, Kresten finds out that his father has died, leaving behind his mentally disturbed brother who is know in the need of someone alse to take care of him. Forced to leave to leave the City and his newly wed wife, he takes of to the country to fix things and return as quick as possible. He finds his fathers farm in a big mess and his brother hiding under a table, refusing to get in the shower. Kresten decides to hire someone to live on the farm with his brother. And that is where Liva comes into the picture. A prostitute struggeling to pay her sons expensive private school, seeking a new start. She takes the Job, but not only that...

Bad movie, bad quality, bad cast, bad lighting, bad script and did I say just a bad movie??? If you are looking for a fantastic movie with the same plot -- see SHOWER. The Chinese did a superb job on the story of a man who was ashamed of his roots after his success (including his retarded little brother). See SHOWER- -it will touch your heart!! Shower

Here's a movie that was excellent, about accepting people for what they are, and accepting yourself. The four main characters in the movie did an excellent job in portraying their character. A movie full of fun, exciting and a lot of laughter. You may find yourself in one of the roles exhibited. A great foreign film.