Yesterday

[oneiriad]

I was in the cinema and saw a Danish movie. Now, if you knew my movie habits, you'd know that mostly I don't watch Danish movies. Not that Danish movies are bad, nope - but they are mostly not the kind of movies I like. You see, I like fantasy and science fiction and horror, big historical movies and the occasional truly odd - plus anything with Johnny Depp or Jack Davenport, but surely I'm allowed to indulge in my shallowness occasionally, and besides, mostly they coincide at least a little. Danish movies, however, well, they have a tendency towards action-comedies and drama and the occasional love story, and while there is nothing wrong with that, then, well, it's just not me.

So, when Denmark finally gets an actual large-scale fantasy movie, I just had to go see.

De fortabte sjæles ø - which translated as The Island of Lost Souls - is a pretty standard fantasy story. 14 year old Lulu has moved with her mother and younger brother from Copenhagen to a small town in the middle of nowhere and expects life to be boring now. Then her brother is possessed by the ghost of Herman, a 19th century man, who was a member of the appropriately, if not imaginatively named Lodge for Fighting against Evil. Apparently something is calling souls back from the afterlife, and now Lulu and Herman - along with a local teeange boy and a disillusioned paranormal researcher - has to find out what it is.

The story is actually good and the villain - theNecromancer - who looks a little like Voldemort and is played nicely creepily by Mads Mikkelsen's less sexy older brother - is nicely evil and nasty and scary. And having a personal love of stories where people from the past wind up in the present and have to cope - especially if it is well done - I thoroughly enjoyed Herman's reactions to present day, even if he adjusts a bit fast. Still, there are also the scenes where a lot of souls has escaped the Necromancer and are possessing random people in town with fairly amusing results. My personal favourite has to be Dieter your friendly neighbourhood Nazi fighter pilot ghost. :-)

But to be completely shallow the best part of the movie is not the acting, though it's good, nor the plot, though that's also fine, if somewhat standard. No, the best part is the special effects. Seriously, this kind of special effects - huge, flashy, good - well, you just don't see this kind of special effects in a Danish movie. You just don't. Except this one has them. Spectacular magical energy fights, a shadow ghost, an animated scarecrow, lots of ghosts - and they are good. I need you to understand that. I mean, if it wasn't because everybody (mostly) speaks Danish, I would have thought the movie was American. Seriously, the effects are that sort of good. I'm not sure if you'll get how unusual that is.

I have no idea if anyone outside of Denmark is even going to get an actual chance to see this movie, but if you do get the chance, and you enjoy stuff like Harry Potter and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, then you should really go see it. Seriously. You really, really should.

Comments

[juliet-whisky.livejournal.com]

It sounds quite good! Most of the Danish movies that make it over here are the angsty type or the kooky type so this would make an interesting change.