Peter Aalbæk Jensen Movies

The second feature from Lukas Moodysson, who directed the internationally acclaimed Fucking Åmål, Tillsammans is the tale of life on a Stockholm commune in the mid-'70s. After suffering more than her share of abuse from her husband, Rolf (Michael Nyqvist), Elisabeth (Lisa Lindgren) takes her two children, Stefan (Sam Kessel) and Eva (Emma Samuelsson), to a commune run by her brother Göran (Gustav Hammarsten). Life at the commune is crowded with people with laid-back attitudes towards sex, nudity, and recreational drug use, prompting plenty of political debate. Göran's partner, Lena (Anja Lundkvist), is a particular proponent of free-spirited bed-hopping, something Göran doesn't really like but tolerates. Lena duly gets involved with the rebellious Erik (Olle Sarri) and finds fulfillment in the form of her first orgasm, something that leads her to confess to Göran that she was always faking it with him. Meanwhile, various dramas are at work amongst the other commune members, including the once-married Lasse (Ola Norell) and Anna (Jessica Liedberg) (who split up when Anna announced she was a lesbian) and Klas (Shanti Roney), whose advances to Lasse are continually rebuffed. The goings-on of the commune are observed and commented on by a pair of neighbors, Margit (Therese Brunnander) and Ragner (Claes Hartelius), whose marriage is so lackluster that Ragner masturbates compulsively. Their son, the fat and miserable Fredrik (Henrik Lundström), befriends Elisabeth's daughter, Eva, who longs to have a family again. When Rolf appears on the scene seeking reconciliation, it seems Eva may get her wish. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide

Denmark never seemed more like Transylvania than in this horror effort from Copenhagen. Rebecca (Maria Karlsen) is a young woman who has recently inherited a house from her grandmother. Joined by her best friend (Mette Louise Holland) and her significant other (Tomas Villum Jensen), Rebecca decides to check out her new estate, which is old, big and just a little scary looking. While checking out the basement, they run across some information on Rebecca's great-grandfather: local legend has it he was once a priest but later became a bloodthirsty vampire. What's the truth behind his violent legend? ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this romantic comedy from Denmark, Sam (Tommy Kenter) is having problems with both his professional life and his marriage. His career as a film director has dried up and he's been forced to take work as an editor, while at home he can't shake the feeling that his new bride is having an affair. He loves her, and she seems to love him, but there were a lot of men in her past before they tied the knot and he's just not sure that she's being faithful. It turns out Sam's fears have a basis in fact, as she's started seeing a dentist who likes his sex rough. I Wonder Who's Kissing You Now was directed by Henning Carlsen, who draws strong and witty performances from his cast. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This Swedish-Norwegian-Danish children's film is an adaptation of the popular 1964 children's book by Maria Gripe, a classic translated into more than 20 languages. Author Gripe refused to allow a film version until she saw Gronos' adaptation of her novel Agnes Cecilia. Set in the 19th Century, the tale has Snow Queen overtones as the spoiled woman of a royal family wants children for the cold corridors of her vast, sterile castle. After her husband kidnaps the glassblower's children, they are turned into amnesiacs and forced to live in the castle, where they are tortured and abused by their tutor, a weird witch. Production design by Jan Olof Agren contrasts the two settings -- the warmth and art of the glassblower's realistic world as opposed to the heightened sense of dread lurking throughout the mythical and stylized castle. Shown at the 1998 Gothenburg Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

The unusual title of this Icelandic-Danish road movie is the telephone number of pretty 19-year-old Stella (Thora Dungal) who joins alcoholic Robbi (Pall Banine) and Ulfur (Finnur Johannsson) on a Reykjavik apartment break-in. The following day, Ulfur sends the two off on a drug deal, but they decide to flee Ulfur's manipulations by driving across Iceland. Shown at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Denmark never seemed more like Transylvania than in this horror effort from Copenhagen. Rebecca (Maria Karlsen) is a young woman who has recently inherited a house from her grandmother. Joined by her best friend (Mette Louise Holland) and her significant other (Tomas Villum Jensen), Rebecca decides to check out her new estate, which is old, big and just a little scary looking. While checking out the basement, they run across some information on Rebecca's great-grandfather: local legend has it he was once a priest but later became a bloodthirsty vampire. What's the truth behind his violent legend? ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Morten Arnfred and Lars von Trier's second chapter in the ongoing Danish television series The Kingdom chronicles the further misadventures of the staff and patients of an ultramodern Copenhagen hospital located atop an ancient, haunted swamp. The film opens with Judith (Birgitte Raaberg) giving birth to her mutant child (Udo Kier). Dr. Stig Helmer (Ernst-Hugo Järegård) is coming under heavy scrutiny for a botched operation that left a patient brain dead, and beginning to dabble in the dark arts in order to ward off those seeking an end to his career. Hypochondriac Mrs. Drusse (Kirsten Rolffes) finally does have something bad happen to her medically when an ambulance hits her. This is supposedly the second of a planned three-part story. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

Somewhat based on the real-life experiences of director Alexander Rosler, this drama follows the painful coming of age of a young German-Jewish refugee whose traumatized family is relocated to Norway following WW II. When young Mendel Trotzig learns that he and his parents are moving to Norway, it confuses him. He does not understand that they are survivors of the concentration camps and are considered displaced persons. The family moves into a slum in a small Norwegian town. They are not particularly welcomed by their suspicious neighbors. Once there Mendel becomes increasingly troubled, not only with the puzzling new culture, but also with his family's secretiveness regarding photographs from their recent past. Eventually he is made privy to the horrific photos that were taken while they were in the camps. It is then that he learns a painful secret about his brother's true father. Mendel is tormented by the images and angered by what he considered the passivity of the Jews in allowing themselves to be slaughtered. As a backlash, Mendel becomes a school bully, trying to prove that he is brave and strong. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Drug-dealing Danish thugs engage in various criminal activities in violently hip but gritty crime drama. The interesting cinematography provides one of the film's points of interest. But for one scene all exterior shots seemed to be filmed in grainy black and white high contrast film that is then tinted an almost lurid orange. Interior shots are filmed in normal color. Janus has just been released from prison. He immediately teams up with his juvenile delinquent little brother Jakob, steals a car and meets gang leader Lasse at the Café Teuton. Lasse invites Janus to live in his sister Eva's apartment and then gives him his first assignment which is to go down to local housing projects and frighten the sick and elderly into handing over their drug prescriptions so that Lasse will have a good supply to sell. Trouble erupts when Janus and Eva get into a violent relationship. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A sister and brother must deal with their parents' divorce in this Danish family drama. It is set during the Berlin crisis in 1962. Carmen, the nervous one, and her brother Adrian, aka Babyface, lead happy lives. Their father is a ceramist, and their mother is an earth momma. After their pappa runs away with an apprentice, the family harmony is shattered. The devastated mother and her children move to a drafty old cottage in the country. The children are outcast by their new schoolmates. Carmen avoids them, but Adrian is bullied. He finally does find a friend, but the friendship is temporary. Adrian's teacher finally provides him the nurturance he craves. An electrical storm brings ominous developments to the little family. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

All poor Atsushi Hirata really wants is to leave the cold Japanese winter and take a week's vacation in warm Hawaii. Unfortunately, he ends up forced to honor tradition and travel to even more frigid Iceland to pay tribute to his late parents who died there seven years before. This internationally produced very funny road movie chronicles his many misadventures that begin when he disembarks from his plane in the midst of a blizzard and ends up boarding the wrong bus. The bus takes him to some popular hot springs and he must take a taxi back to Reykjavik. He doesn't make it back, because the driver needed to stop in his hometown and participate in a nativity pageant. This forces poor Hirata to bum a ride on a truck. During the journey, he meets a broad assortment of eccentric and bizarre characters ranging from a woman with a thing about photographing funerals, an aspiring Bonnie and Clyde, and a band of Icelandic cowboys. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This Scandinavian tragedy is based on a novel by Knut Hamsun and centers on the reminiscences of Lt. Thomas Glahn, a big-game hunter, as he reflects upon the woman who continues to haunt him even though he has "quite forgotten" her. The story jumps back four years. It is summer in an isolated Norwegian fishing village. There the hunter lives in a leased hut in the middle of a forest. His only companion is Aesop, his beloved hunting dog. While there, he encounters Edvarda, a merchant's daughter; for both it is love at first sight. They begin innocently trysting at night in the forest, but their physical expressions of love are limited to the occasional kiss. At the beginning of their relationship, Glahn gives Edvarda two green feathers. Glahn reveres this young woman, and though she would like him to make love to her, he cannot. The woman gets frustrated and the relationship begins to sour. Glahn then begins a sexual relationship with a married woman and Edvarda marries another. Later a tragedy occurs and Glahn does something terribly cruel to Edvarda before he leaves. She returns the feathers. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This Danish film has a comic beginning and a tragic end as it follows a Danish man on his quest to find his biological father in Portugal. When Jan, a man in his thirties, suddenly discovers he is adopted he immediately sets out to find his birth parents. His mother, an ex-cabaret singer is not too hard to find. Together the two head off in a taxi to a small town in Portugal to search for dad. Upon arrival, the mother refuses to assist any further and locks herself in her hotel room. As Jan searches, he meets and falls in love with Constanca. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide