:
Anders W. Berthelsen,
Anders W. Berthelsen,
Iben Hjejle,
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:
Sĝren Kragh-Jacobsen,
Sĝren Kragh-Jacobsen
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: 
: Columbia TriStar
: Comedies, Foreign, Scandinavia
: 102 min.
: Danish
: English, Spanish, French
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This title is currently out of print.
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Mifunes Sidste Sang is the third feature produced according to the Dogma 95 manifesto, ten strict rules drawn up by the Danish directors Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg. The title of the film refers to the late Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune, who played a bogus samurai of peasant origins in Akira Kurosawa's Shichinin no Samurai/ Seven Samurai. The protagonist, Kresten, comes from humble country origins but now lives in the yuppie circles of Copenhagen and has the prospects of a glittering career until a telephone call on his wedding night shatters his hopes of a better life. Kresten's father has just died; he has always told everyone he knows, including his wife Claire, that he has no living family, but now he has to explain he does have one after all. When he returns to his father's dilapidated farmhouse, he meets his elder brother Rud, who is mentally retarded. Kresten is embarrassed by the prospect of having his poverty-stricken past unveiled and keeps his wife away, telling one lie after another. While trying to settle things on the farm, he becomes attached to his brother and tries to find a housekeeper to help alleviate the horrible conditions he is living in, so Kresten can go back to his comfortable life without feelings of guilt. However, the housekeeper turns out to be a high-class hooker on the run, and Kresten is extremely attracted to her. Meanwhile his wife, who is beginning to get suspicious, is threatening to join him. The basic philosophy behind the film is you can't lie your way out of the past on the farm. Director Soren Kragh-Jacobsen followed the Dogma 95 rules closely in this film -- the music is recorded along with the images, the camera is hand-held, there is no artificial lighting, no props, the plot takes place here and now without superficial action, no guns or murders. But unlike Lars von Trier's Dogma film, The Idiots, it was not shot on video and the director admits to adding a shrub or two to the farm scenes. Mifunes Sidste Sang-Dogme 3 received the Jury Grand Prix Silver Bear at the 49th Berlin International Film Festival in 1999, while actress Iben Hjejle got a Special Mention for her role as Liva, the prostitute. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, All Movie Guide
Special Features:
- Director's Commentary
- Theatrical Trailers
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| There are no samurai here
by Misshaped
June 5, 2004 - 9:49 PM PDT
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| Akira Kurosawa's "Seven Samurai" inspired the title for this movie. Mifune is a samurai in denial of his poor past, but in the end has to deal with his heritage and become the hero in the movie. I'm afraid this version of the story was a little flat. I really enjoyed how it was filmed on digital since I'm a huge fan of the Dogme style (see the Vow of Chastity to understand:), but the plot didn't have any truly surprising elements to keep my interest. Kresten's relationship with his brother Rud was the only partnership that I cared about, but it felt like I was watching the Swedish version of Rain Man after a while. When they hire a stunningly gorgeous prostitute housekeeper named Liva, and end up taking in her bratty younger brother who's been kicked out of private school, it all unfolded quite conventionally (happy ending included). I'm not saying this was a disaster, but it just didn't blow my mind either. |
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(Average 6.29)
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