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Title: Mifune (1999)
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| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Iben Hjejle | ... | Liva Psilander | |
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Anders W. Berthelsen | ... | Kresten |
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Jesper Asholt | ... | Rud |
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Emil Tarding | ... | Bjarke Psilander |
| Anders Hove | ... | Gerner | |
| Sofie Gråbøl | ... | Claire | |
| Paprika Steen | ... | Pernille | |
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Mette Bratlann | ... | Nina |
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Susanne Storm | ... | Hanne |
| Ellen Hillingsø | ... | Lykke | |
| Sidse Babett Knudsen | ... | Bibbi | |
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Søren Fauli | ... | Stemmen (voice) |
| Søren Malling | ... | Palle Alfons | |
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Kjeld Nørgaard | ... | Claires far (as Keld Nørgaard) |
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Kirsten Vaupel | ... | Claires mor |
Kresten has moved from his parents farm on a small Danish island to Copenhagen in order to pursue his working career. When his father dies he has to move back to the farm, where nothing much has happened since he left. He places an ad in the local newspaper to get help running the farm and taking care of his mentally disabled brother. A prostitute named Liva, who is running away from annoying telephone calls, answers it. But running away from your past isn't easy. Written by Allan Simonsen
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Despite the Dogme trappings, there is a story here. It is about lying and its consequences.
Kresten, a young go-go company man is marrying the boss's daughter, but hides, then fabricates his country past. He doesn't get away with it for long and ends up shamed and divorced. Likewise, a young prostitute, Liva, tries to flee her surroundings, but they follow her and in the end visit - literally - wrath on her new home.
The only spiritually pure character, content in his surroundings, too innocent of wit to lie, is Kresten's retarded brother Rud. It seems that everything he says, no matter how far-fetched, turns out to be true. He is also the teacher of kindness who, since he is inarticulate, can only teach by example.
Actually, I think the most unambiguously satisfying relationship here is between Rud and Liva's beastly little brother Bjarke. It is Bjarke who can't handle the truth about himself and his sister. Quickly, the stereotypes he has learned to brutalize in the social Darwinian hell of boarding school confront him with their humanity and teach him that life doesn't have to be the daily exercise in cynicism that he and his sister suppose.
There is atonement for all three, visited in different forms, but ultimately redeeming and providing a hopeful ending to the story.
Unfortunately, there are a few problems in Mifune which marred my viewing. A major one is the text, which is badly abused in translation to English. For some reason, the translator has seen fit to turn words which in Danish mean "damn" or "hell" into "f**k". Perhaps he or she thought it would give the dialog more impact. He or she was wrong.
Another problem is the unresolved and perhaps unnecessary character of the ugly and despicable Gerner, whose purpose I'm not exactly sure of, other than as a kind of agent of punishment - perhaps a devil - descending on the hapless Kresten. In any case, we need at least to know more about him, or perhaps even have him whacked or otherwise disposed of for dramatic purposes.
Anyway, as with most European movies, "Mifune" is more about character than story. I strongly recommend that you meet Kresten, Rud, Liva and Bjarke. I think you'll like them in the end.