Quote:
Danish black humour takes a sinister and thought-provoking turn with Jensen’s mature directorial opus, Adam’s Apples.

Ivan (Mads Mikkelsen) is a village priest with an unquenchably tolerant and forgiving attitude. He is accompanied by the pugilistic neo-Nazi Adam, the thieving Gunnar, and the would-be terrorist Khalid. An apple tree outside the church offers Adam the chance to complete a constructive task – baking a pie – but the apple tree is beset by misfortune. The storyline will be enough to make the most unshockable squirm and includes jokes about disability, rape, and cruelty to animals just for starters. Whether you feel the end justifies the means or you plump on the side of condemning it as bad taste may be to do with your sensibilities and how you look at such issues.

For all his professed piety, Ivan can sometimes seem a little heartless. An elderly man who needs the loo during a sermon is subjected to much sermonising in an extended joke about holding it in before he is allowed to go and use the toilet (but not the church one). The only woman in the story is hysterical Sarah, who seeks Ivan’s solace after getting pregnant. The child has a chance of being disabled. Ivan regales her with the story of how they had the same worry over his own child, but now he delights every day to see him running around. When Sarah discovers that Ivan’s child is really paralysed, she feels betrayed. It transpires that much of Ivan’s world is a fantasy based on a belief in the goodness of everything. The gossiping doctor explains how Ivan’s wife didn’t die accidentally but committed suicide. Ivan was raped by his father. Psychologically, Ivan is in denial about almost everything, and this poses the question: is religion a form of denial of the harsh reality of the world?

Adam’s bible is one of the few things in his room apart from a picture of Adolf. Each time the door slams, the picture falls off the wall and the bible falls on the floor, always falling open at the same place – the Book of Job. If you are well up on your Old Testament, you will probably recognise the film as an extended essay or modern version of Job. This is the book with the lines made famous by many cinematic funerals: “Man that is born of woman is of a few days, and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down.”

In the original, Job’s afflictions are a test of his faith, which is how Ivan translates every misfortune, even when he is beaten up by Adam. The ultimate point is probably that goodness is valuable of itself – whether as a way of life or as a virtue – and whether or not it is always appreciated. (This maybe holds true whether you support the parable with a religious context or not.) Ivan’s ‘goodness’ certainly endures adversity, although many might suggest it is really a self-righteous stupidity. Ivan does not have the self-possessed humanity that marks any sort of ‘Gotterdammerung’ or humanist moral high ground. This is Adam’s point, who gets a gun to scare “the goodness shit” out of Ivan. He tells him that God really hates Ivan, and that’s why all the bad stuff is happening. Is Adam the devil tempting Ivan, or just a realist trying to get him to admit his hypocrisy?

Adam’s Apples boasts good production values and excellent acting. Its style of humour is the thing that will divide people. Dark humour is a cornerstone of Danish cinema, from Thomas Vinterberg’s The Celebration to von Trier’s The Boss of It All and even including Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself, which Jensen wrote: but in all these examples, the humour directs us to feel uncomfortable about jokes that are ‘politically incorrect’ and hurtful, or they are handled with a sensitivity towards the victims. Adam’s Apples, on the other hand, seemed to have little redemptive concern for those groups who are the butt of jokes, whether women, Muslims, or people with Down’s syndrome. Funny and cleverly-written they are, and the audience mostly laughed throughout, but they are heartless. I was pleased that a gag about Sarah being trussed up and probably raped at least didn’t elicit laughter from the Scottish audience at the screening I went to; I wondered how reactions would differ in different countries and continents.

Adam’s Apples is a clever film but not nearly as clever as it would seem. Biblical allusions to stoicism in the face of adversity work better in the original Old Testament, and the racist, sexist and homophobic jokes (whilst acceptable to O.T. morality) are less tenable by enlightened standards.

Whenever Ivan is driving, he plays the BeeGees’ How Deep Is Your Love. He does indeed perhaps find some light in his deepest, darkest hour, but this reviewer might be tempted to leave him to it.

Adam's Apples (2005) Anders Thomas Jensen - 1080p.mp4

General
Container:  	Matroska
Runtime: 	1h 35mn
Size: 	1.69 GiB
Video
Codec: 	x264
Resolution: 	1920x832
Aspect ratio:  	2.35:1
Frame rate: 	23.976 fps
Bit rate: 	2 250 Kbps
BPP: 	0.188
Audio
#1:  	Danish 5.1ch AAC LC @ 288 Kbps

https://nitro.download/view/88AF7E4074646A1/Adam’s_Apples_(2005)_Anders_Thomas_Jensen_-_1080p.mp4 https://nitro.download/view/3C911316932CBF9/Adam’s_Apples_(2005)_Anders_Thomas_Jensen_-_1080p.srt

Language(s):Danish
Subtitles:English, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish

Many thanls to @Marcio for this copy

The post Anders Thomas Jensen – Adams æbler AKA Adam’s Apples (2005) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Just out of prison for violent behavior, Tony gets angry when he sees the new film by the world-famous director Claus Volter and wants his money back.

Spraengfarlig bombe.mkv

General
Container:  	Matroska
Runtime: 	1 h 28 min
Size: 	1.40 GiB
Video
Codec: 	x264
Resolution: 	720x434 ~> 1019x434
Aspect ratio:  	2.35:1
Frame rate: 	25.000 fps
Bit rate: 	1 800 kb/s
BPP: 	0.230
Audio
#1:  	Danish 5.1ch AC-3 @ 448 kb/s (Surround)

Also included is the making of documentary Bag om Sprængfarlig bombe. It doesn’t have English subtitles and no director is credited.

https://nitro.download/view/E070A58C4EA247C/Spraengfarlig_bombe.mkv
https://nitro.download/view/9837AFFD09AF1C7/Spraengfarlig_bombe.srt
https://nitro.download/view/4D2F4450F24A468/Bag_om_Spraengfarlig_bombe_documentary.mkv

Language(s):Danish
Subtitles:English, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish

The post Tomas Villum Jensen – Sprængfarlig bombe AKA Clash of Egos (2006) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Two strangers unexpectedly meet at an airport. He mistakenly assumes her to be his assigned driver.
She, enchanted by the random encounter, does not hurry to prove him wrong.

DVD Source: DVD5
DVD Format: PAL
DVD Audio: Stereo
Program: Unknown
Menus: Untouched
Video: Untouched
Audio: Untouched
DVD extras: None

https://nitro.download/view/7AF3FDB72B69860/Aya.part1.rar
https://nitro.download/view/BB91580ECCE6E0A/Aya.part2.rar

Language:English/Hebrew
Subtitles:Hebrew/English (hardcorded)

The post Oded Binnun & Mihal Brezis – Aya (2012) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Plot Summary for Brødre (2004)
Michael (Ulrich Thomsen) has everything under control: a successful military career, a beautiful wife (Connie Nielsen) and two daughters. His younger brother Jannik (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) is a drifter, living on the edge of the law. When Michael is sent to Afghanistan on a UN mission the balance between the two brothers changes forever. Michael is missing in action – presumed dead – and Sarah is comforted by Jannik, who against all odds shows himself capable of taking responsibility for both himself and the family. It soon becomes clear that their feelings have developed beyond mutual sympathy. When Michael comes home, traumatized by being held prisoner in the mountains of Afghanistan, nothing is the same.

1.36GB | 1h 52mn | 608 x 336 | avi

https://nitro.download/view/1FD8DFE7AC1F0C7/Brodre_(2004)_CD1_(Dansk_Film)AC3_lyd(DVDrip-XVID_af_Fluffers).avi
https://nitro.download/view/9D07D3794558448/Brodre_(2004)_CD1_(Dansk_Film)AC3_lyd(DVDrip-XVID_af_Fluffers).srt
https://nitro.download/view/F3B5993E314D039/Brodre_(2004)_CD2_(Dansk_Film)AC3_lyd(DVDrip-XVID_af_Fluffers).avi
https://nitro.download/view/C4519169853C8A2/Brodre_(2004)_CD2_(Dansk_Film)AC3_lyd(DVDrip-XVID_af_Fluffers).srt
https://nitro.download/view/3237BFDBE5F054A/Brodre_2004_Subpack_DVDrip_XVID_-Fluffers.rar

Language(s):Danish
Subtitles:Norsk,Svenska,English,Espanol

The post Susanne Bier – Brødre AKA Brothers (2004) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Zetterstrøm is an accomplished pianist who lives and breathes music. When he plays he shuts out his surroundings, isolates himself entirely in a universe where only he and his piano exist in perfect symbiosis, forgetting all that matters, even those who love him. When his girlfriend finally abandons him he is heartbroken, and his already reclusive nature is strengthened. He travels to New York and takes up residence, now playing concerts physically isolated from the audience. Ten years pass and he feels compelled to return to Copenhagen, but in his absence something very strange has happened to his old neighbourhood…

IMDb guys didn’t like it much, but what do they know? It wasn’t nearly as good as Reconstruction, but I liked it anyway. I have come to adore Boe’s particular style already, and this is only his second movie on the silver screen. Allegro won a Robert award for Best Cinematography (well-deserved, as you can see!), and was nominated for the Grand Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. The main character is played by Ulrich Thomsen, who some of you may remember as Christian in Thomas Vinterberg’s thoroughly incredible dogme movie “The Celebration”, and Helena Christensen plays his significant other. Look out for a short cameo by Alex (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) from Reconstruction.

http://www.nitroflare.com/view/EE089A83EB42317/Allegro-DVDrip-x264.mkv

Language(s):Danish
Subtitles:English, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish

The post Christoffer Boe – Allegro (2005) first appeared on Cinema of the World.