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MIFUNE (MIFUNES SIDSTE SANG)
Søren Kragh-Jacobsen, Denmark/Sweden,1999
Saturday 30 August 2003 9pm-10.40pm
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Kresten Jensen lives and loves the middle-class dream. He's just married the beautiful young Claire, the daughter of his wealthy boss in Copenhagen, and his future looks as shiny as a wedding day smile. Of course, it can't last and the honeymoon is shattered when Kresten receives news of his father's death.
Unfortunately, he neglected to tell his wife about his background and we soon see why. The savvy city slicker's roots lie in a run-down farm where his mother hanged herself, leaving his father to care for his retarded brother. Kresten must now take on the farm and his sibling, and as he's travelled 'home' alone, he advertises for help. Enter Liva, a Copenhagen call-girl who has her own reasons for fleeing the city...
It's worth stressing the film's rom-com sensibilities simply because Mifune was the third movie made under the auspices and orders of Dogme 95. Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg founded this collective of disparate Danes who vowed to return filmmaking to a simpler, more direct and genuine ethos. Special lighting and sound effects were forbidden and hand-held cameras mandatory.
Unlike Von Trier's The Idiots, Mifune is shot on film, as opposed to video, and the actual methodology does not overpower the movie. Director Søren Kragh-Jacobsen largely obeys the Dogme rules, but takes up the challenge to create a spontaneous and spirited comedy, not to extend the boundaries of cinema. "I wanted to make an affectionate, optimistic, summer film," he reflected, "Of course I could have made a Søren Goes Absurd - but I am not Lars von Trier!"
Some of the characters, such as the 'tart with a heart' may be a little hackneyed, but Mifune works as a gentle romantic comedy, full of delightful scenes and effective performances. In short, a film which refreshingly represents Dogme without the dogma.
Gavin Collinson
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Iben Hjejle (Liva) appeared in the Stephen Frears comedy, High Fidelity, starring as Laura opposite lead John Cusack.
