The Hunt (Jagten)

This powerful Danish drama stars Mads Mikkelsen (A Royal Affair) as Lucas, a divorced father, who becomes the target of a close-knit community’s wrath when he’s accused of sexually molesting one of the children at the kindergarten where he works.

Thomas Vinterberg’s provocative film touches on the very difficult and sensitive issue of child abuse and how the fearful, merciless persecution brought to bear by a secluded clannish community on the loathsome individual they believe to be responsible, can sometimes be misguided. 

The story is told from the accused’s perspective as we witness how Lucas becomes the victim of an innocent lie. It’s a dark cautionary tale of how quickly a community can turn against even its most trusted citizens when it comes to protecting children from sexual predators. 

Unable to believe that a child would ever lie or make up such a story, Lucas’ closest friends and family turn against him, while he tries to convince them that no such act ever occurred to no avail. Much like The Fugitive (1993), there is absolutely no tolerance to hear what Lucas has to say, even with his reputation as a well-liked and respected citizen. 

Mads Mikkelsen as Lucas is absolutely riveting as a gentle man rebuilding his life after a divorce and custody battle, who sees his only son and new girlfriend slipping away as his world is completely turned upside down. With everyone quickly turning sinister, he is now a pariah, a social outcast shunned by society. 

Lucas is in fact loved by all the children at the school where he works, especially Klara, the young girl in question, who is his best friend’s daughter and has special needs. Because Lucas is the only one sensitive to her needs, she developed a bond with him, maybe even a crush. But when he rejects a gift she makes for him, she misunderstands and takes it as a personal rejection.

Out of anger she makes up a story about Lucas. Everyone involved seems to do the right thing to protect the girl from further exposure to Lucas but Klara is shocked at how the adults and her parents react so strongly to her claims. Embellished by the adult’s imaginations and fears, they assume the worst before the girl realizes the consequences of what she had said.

It’s scary to realize how powerless we are as individuals when cut off from our social network and the fragility and importance of that social network to our wellbeing. The film’s disturbing but plausible story continues to haunt me long after viewing it as I became aware that a version of this scenario could happen to almost anyone in today’s fearful society.

Lucas, like most of us, really would have no other option but to leave his town and start a new life somewhere else, if it wasn’t for his strong conviction that he has done nothing wrong and hopes that the truth will eventually be revealed. Unfortunately, even if he were able to convince people of his innocence, his life would never be the same as there would always remain some doubt in the back of people’s mind. 

The Hunt (2012) is a thought provoking must-see drama that was nominated in the best foreign film category at the BAFTA Awards and nominated for the Palme D’Or at the Cannes film festival where Mads Mikkelsen’s stunning performance won him the best actor award.

JP

Prisoners

When two children go missing on the outskirts of a suburban community, a mysterious RV camper parked on the street is immediately suspected as a possible connection.

If you’ve ever seen French Canadian director Denis Villeneuve’s film Incendies (2010), you will know just how skillful he is with stories that take you on endlessly puzzling journeys and come to totally unexpected and shocking conclusions. Well, Prisoners (2013), Villeneuve’s first big budget Hollywood project is no exception and leaves you with that same disturbing impact at the end.

The film is reminiscent of other child abduction films like Without a Trace (1983) and Gone Baby Gone (2007), while adding some elements of Taken (2008) with the addition of a vigilante father who conducts his own search and rescue mission. 

In this particular case there are few likely suspects who may or may not have some connection to the crime. The father of one of the kidnapped children, Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman), is a very high strung paranoid type, who prides himself on being prepared for any emergency survival scenario. But in his frantic attempt to find his daughter we don’t know if he is helping or hindering the investigation.

The audience is kept as much in the dark as the detectives and parents are, while searching for and agonizing over the whereabouts of the two young girls and who is capable of such an unthinkable act.

It’s an extremely sensitive subject in today’s society where children go missing almost on a regular basis and are very seldom found alive if they are found at all. The case of Madeleine McCann, abducted while vacationing in Portugal, is one of the more high profile examples in which the girl has still not been found and where investigators focus sometimes mistakenly on the parents.

The first rate cast includes Jake Gyllenhaal as the weary perplexed officer Loki assigned to the case, bringing an appropriately calm and unnervingly restrained performance to the role. And Hugh Jackman plays his character with understandable desperation as he takes matters into his own hands when he feels the authorities are not doing enough to find his daughter. 

The movie centers on these two characters with very different mentalities and who use very different methods to reach their goals. One represents the rational analytical approach, the other is driven by his emotions and the certain knowledge that time is quickly running out if they hope to recover the children alive.

The movie felt a little on the long side at two and a half hours and lead us down a maze of false paths, or are they? We never know for sure which one of the two is on the right track. The surprising shock ending is well worth the wait and explains many of the questions we the audience and the characters puzzled over throughout the film.

This gripping drama unfolds at a deliberately steady pace, shot by Roger Deakins with a grim grey rainy look that gives a constant oppressive feeling as we see the suffering of all involved. I felt in expert hands as the film moves from one tension filled moment to the next and it was never boring. 

JP

iNumber Number

It’s not surprising that in the shantytowns outside Johannesburg, most cops have gone corrupt. Soweto is a land of lawlessness, where every cop goes through a dilemma; risk their lives on a daily basis to enforce the law for a meager salary, or join the crime lords and live like kings. 

The last two good cops left in Soweto township of South Africa are Chili (S’dumo Mtshali) and Shoes (Presley Chweneyagae). Against all odds they still manage to work together to put away the bad guys without any assistance from the rest of the corrupt police force. 

The film begins with an exhilarating opening sequence that has Chili’s cover blown and tied to a chair about to be tortured or killed. It’s Shoe to the rescue, but he has no weapons, only a walkie-talkie to communicate with his partner and no time to call for backup. Outnumbered, the two must work together to put a bold plan into action.

Writer and director Donovan Marsh, influenced by such masters of the gangster and heist genre as Tarantino and the Coen Brothers, tells a sometimes absurdly tragic/comic story of a hastily planned robbery of an armored money truck in transit, which is apparently common in the extremely dangerous poor parts of South Africa, where people are so desperate, they often resort to poorly thought out schemes to get rich quick.

Our cop buddies and best friends are an unlikely duo to be reckoned with; Chili is the hulking muscle with nerves of steel able to infiltrate any crime gang convincingly, while Shoes is the loveable experienced voice of reason on the outside looking in, making sure his partner doesn’t get himself killed.

The strikingly stylish sepia tinged images give a rich texture that exudes a feeling of oppressive heat. Visually, it almost felt like watching Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire (2008), with its extreme camera angles and filtered lenses giving an ant’s eye view of the scorched world that seems to give the camera, free to move into the smallest spaces, a life of its own and the resulting images are nothing short of spectacular.  

After being denied the reward owed to them, Chili, conflicted about continuing on their righteous path, decide to help a group of criminals to rob an armored truck and make some quick easy cash. Shoes reluctantly agrees to go along with the plan but in Soweto nothing goes as planned and soon our two hero cops are neck deep in a suspenseful bloody show down.

Filmed in actual locations in the Soweto Township of Johannesburg South Africa, the film is a non-stop adrenalin rush that doesn’t let up. The situations and thrilling set pieces are so inventively filmed with an array of in-camera visual effects like stop motion, fast motion and slow motion that help give the film a frenetic feeling that engages the audience to experience the film in an immersive way. 

The organic home grown soundtrack, which was actually performed by one of the cast members, who himself was a real gangster and a musician in Soweto, helps to give the film an authentic feel.

iNumber Number (2013), the title of the film is Zulu gangster slang for a crime job, had its world premiere here in Toronto on Sept. 12, 2013 and is scheduled for a big release in South Africa in March 2014, and in North American by XYZ films. Don’t miss this extremely entertaining must-see film for action fans.

JP

The Dinner (Het Diner)

How do you make a family drama into a psychological thriller and make it work? Well, Dutch director Menno Meyjes has done it. This is a unique revealing film about an upper middle class European family whose outer façade hides an ugly truth. 

The film follows a father, Paul (Jacob Derwig), an unemployed cynical ex-teacher, who has lost touch with his son’s life, and the family fallout after he learns of his son’s involvement with a Clockwork Orange style crime that seems to eco Anthony Burgess's account of the future.

Filmed as an intense thriller, the story surrounds a dinner conversation at a posh restaurant between two sets of parents, who have come together to discuss a crime committed by their children. Paul’s brother Serge (Daan Schuurmans), a politician, has arranged for them and their wives to meet at a restaurant to discuss the grave consequences of the situation and what action should be taken.

Based on a provocative bestselling Dutch novel of the same name by Herman Koch, and inspired by real events, it’s an unflinching account of how parents are both enablers and protectors of their children’s bad behaviors. 

The parents all have a different take on what should be done and everyone is taking steps to protect their interests. It’s almost like a political thriller the way the film cuts between the diner conversation and the crime itself as seen through surveillance footage.

The brothers want to take steps to make sure that their boys are punished according to the law and suggest disclosing what they know to the police, but the mothers are much more protective of their young sons and will do anything to cover up their crimes. 

It’s smartly written with sometimes scathingly hilarious dialogue and analogies about decaying morals in modern society. The film tries to deal with the negative influences of modern technology and violence in music and media that children are exposed to, and how it’s becoming increasingly difficult for parents to control or influence their children with positive messages.

In no way is the movie preachy. We are kept fully engaged with many thriller genre conventions, including a voice over narration by the main character Paul, giving us his thoughts as we get to see contemporary Dutch life. The film is beautifully photographed and full of close-up facial expressions as the characters plot their next move, secret meetings in public washrooms and underground parking lots, cell phone snooping and cyber surveillance footage.

As more details about the crime are slowly revealed, we watch as Paul’s world starts to slip away from him. All is not what it seems at first and soon we realize that the parent’s roles are much more complicated. 

It’s a provocative moral tale of family dynamics disguised as a thriller that asks difficult questions, but leaves you with few answers and lots to think about.

The Dinner (2013) is playing at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and will hopefully soon be given a wider release in North America. Be sure to catch this disturbing but memorable film when it does.

JP

Hotel

In this genuine moving film we follow new mother Erika (Alicia Vikander), who also appeared in A Royal Affair (2012), as she goes through a crisis due to giving birth to a brain damaged child who may never be normal. Unable to accept this, she rejects the child, unwilling to see or hold it while plunging into a deep depression.

The second feature film from Swedish writer & director Lisa Langseth, Hotel (2013) is a brave thought provoking work that probes issues of identity and happiness while coping with the stresses and responsibilities of life.

The tone of the film starts out very dark and intense as Erika deals with serious issues of postpartum depression. I thought I was in for one of those painful films about suffering, but to my relief quite the contrary is true. The movie unexpectedly changes its tone delightfully while still dealing with taboo issues it brings to light. 

Traumatized and unable to function normally, she decides to try group therapy sessions for people with varying disorders. While there, she meets other patients who each decide that they want to escape their lives by exploring other parts of themselves they’ve ignored for too long as a way of coping.

Erica notices the people in the group all have a child like quality about them, and also have trouble dealing with expectations in the adult world. By retreating into their inner child for guidance and reassurance, some comic and surprising situations emerge that make the experience of watching this film a touching revelation.

Soon the group decides that by staying at a hotel they can somehow reinvent themselves in their new surroundings and awaken as different people while helping each other continue with the therapy.

For some reason people sometimes become more open to new ideas and introspective when they are away from their everyday existence and travel to new unknown places. When they are in a place where no one knows them, they are free to explore new identities and be whoever they want to be.

In many ways this film reminded me of Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation (2003), as the characters in both films are dealing with personal issues of identity and the stress of coping with life while staying at hotels. Both films are also directed by young female directors with strong female lead performers and draw on their own experiences for their stories. You could say that Lisa Langseth is the Sofia Coppola of Sweden.

After having spent a good deal of time together on their retreat, the characters form strong intimate bonds, during which each member gets to act out their sometimes bizarre fantasies with the support of the group. But eventually the real world must be faced and hopefully they will have gained new insights to cope with it.

It’s an honest and inspirational film about healing and acceptance. And how by indulging our fantasies and delving into our past, we can sometimes find solutions to real problems and achieve some happiness.

This powerful film, playing at the TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival), is well worth seeing and like The Story of the Weeping Camel (2003) and Lost in Translation (2003), will leave you with a warm sense of wellbeing and reassurance.

JP