Mifune rated R 98 minutes Sony Pictures Classics In Danish with English subtitles Iben Hjejle, Anders W. Berthelsen, Jesper Asholt, Emil Tarding, Anders Hove, Sofie Grabol Written by Anders Thomas Jensen and Soren Kragh-Jacobsen Directed by Soren Kragh-Jacobsen
A Review by Akiva Gottlieb In 1995, a group of distinguished Scandinavian filmmakers decided that today's films lack purity. So they wrote up a manifesto called Dogme 95; a set of rules that a filmmaker should follow in order to make a `pure' film. According to the manifesto, a film should be shot on digital video, use natural props and light, not fit into a specific genre or credit its director.
In 1998, Thomas Vinterberg helmed the first Dogme film, `The Celebration', which won unanimous critical praise for transcending technical limitations in its tale of a dysfunctional family. In 1999, Harmony Korine directed the (unofficial) 2nd Dogme picture (Lars Von Trier's `Idioterne', which was made before, has yet to have a U.S. release), `julien donkey-boy', which was panned by critics for accentuating technical limitations in its analysis of a dysfunctional family. Now, in 2000, Soren Kragh-Jacobsen has made the 3rd Dogme film, `Mifune', which has gained a lukewarm reception for its unconventional story of…you guessed it; a dysfunctional family. Sounds like a genre to me.
`Mifune' is a pitch-black comedy that takes place in the Land of the Rising Sun. It begins with the marriage of Copenhagen businessman Kresten (Anders W. Berthelsen) to his boss' daughter Claire (Sofie Grabol). The next morning Kresten finds out that his estranged father is dead, so he goes to his family's farm for the funeral. His only living relative is a developmentally disabled brother named Rud (Jesper Asholt), who, of course, Kresten is forced to care for.
Simultaneously, in Copenhagen, a hooker named Liva (Iben Hjejle) has gotten herself into trouble. When one of her clients, a principal, informs her that he recently expelled her brother Bjarke (Emil Tarding), she beats him over the head and urinates on his rug. On a whim, she decides to take a housekeeping job at a farmhouse, which belongs to Kresten and Rud, in order to get away from her troubles
`Mifune' is the story of these lives at this farm, and the romance and mayhem that goes on there. On the surface, `Mifune' is a lot like `Rain Man', in which a man learns about the important things in life from a developmentally disabled brother. But Berthelsen and Asholt aren't Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman, and `Mifune' is not about their relationship as much as it is about getting on with your life.
The film takes its title from a game the brothers play, in which Kresten goes into the cellar and pretends to fight Toshiro Mifune, star of Akira Kurosawa's `Seven Samurai', for Rud's enjoyment. `Happiness is when Mifune comes out of the cellar,' notes Rud late in the film, and the characters don't know what he means.
Once it gets going, `Mifune' has many wonderful moments of inspired humor, but because of the Dogme 95 ban on a background musical score, the all the emotions must be conveyed by the actors. This is also the film's main flaw, because the emotional connections are usually weak. Had `Mifune' been a straight-up comedy, it might have been more successful.
In essence, this is a film that showcases what Dogme 95 has to offer, in both positive and negative fashion. Director Kragh-Jacobsen has followed the rules down to every detail. The opening and closing credits are filmed by a video camera scrolling down a piece of paper, and all phone conversations switch back and forth to the rooms of the different speakers, as to not have pre-recorded noise coming out of the phone. Also, the movie is filmed in digital video, but is not as choppy or shaky as in `The Celebration' or `julien donkey-boy'. But `Mifune' is too wild a comedy to fit smoothly into rules that strive for `purity', because it is a film about the things in life that we believe to be impure.
All this talk is not to say that `Mifune', which won the Silver Bear at Berlin Film Festival and was Denmark's official entry for this year's Academy Awards, is not a commendable film. It is a very entertaining picture; one that derives its laughs from the silliness of life. But I only wish that future filmmakers stick to their own vision of purity, because when following the Dogme rules, you can easily forget that purity isn't what people look for in a film.
B- Akiva Gottlieb Critical66@yahoo.com http://pictureshow.8m.com
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