Un film français, dansk filmen, und ein deutsch film

Les chansons d'amour (Love Songs) is not the musical I expected it to be. Sure, it's a sun-free urban Paris that looked very familiar: migrant neighborhood with postered walls. Here, everyone with a cellphone is either jealous or lonely. Divided into three parts, namely, a threesome, a death and an unsatisfying ending, the poems set to music are interesting diversions, but not enough to deserve the title.

Remember, remember... My favorite French pseudo-musical is still 8 Femmes. Ludivine Sagnier (in white coat, above) was also in that movie, but barely recognizable.

Efter Brylluppet (After the Wedding) is one of the best films out of Denmark in years. Shot in a documentary style, it's like spying on a domestic drama. It drew me in, not because I just missed Copenhagen and hearing Danish, not because Mads Mikkelsen (above right) was a Bond villain, and definitely not because the actor playing Jørgen reminded me of Al Gore. It has that believability that many films don't have and don't want to have, and yet it really gets its point across. The child actor playing Pramod should be proud of his work. Bang & Olufsen, did you sponsor this?

Remember, remember...Like the Oscar-winning Danish film Babette's Feast, the symbolisms are in-your-face.

Hände weg von Mississippi (Hands off Mississippi) about a horse and a girl who spends her summer vacation in the country is something of an oddity. It tries a bit too hard to be slapstick-funny and comes off as intentionally more American prairie than German. But the golden colors and pretty shots are taken from a child's perspective and have a Norman Rockwell glow. We all need a nutty grandma and anti-globalization senior citizens, don't we?


Remember, remember... I mistakenly thought that the lead here was the same as the lead in Die Blindgänger (Blindflyers). Now that is a great German film about young people.

images from outnow.ch