Anders Hove Movies

Adolescence can be one of the most confusing and disorienting periods of life, as the characters at the center of this youth drama could readily testify. For Max (Samuel Heller-Seiffert), puberty lies ahead. He wants nothing more than to spend this Christmas or New Year's Eve with a girl in his class who has seized his attention - Ofelia (Ophelia Eriksen). Unfortunately, while Max's mother, Agnete, has her heart in the right place, she often ends up making a mess of everything, which is exactly what happens at Christmas. That leaves only New Year's for Max to make his move on Ofelia. He decides to wrest control of the situation by throwing the best New Year's Eve anyone has ever seen, with his two friends Hassan (Faysal Mobahriz) and Esther (Agafia Svideniouk Egholm), and inviting Ofelia. But things don't quite work out as planned when Esther unveils her true feelings for Max before he even has an opportunity to talk to Ofelia. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

With the bleak comedic drama Dark Horse, Icelandic director Dagur Kári reworks several thematic and topical elements from his prior film, Nói Albinói. He also crafts a feature which brings together two trends of Scandinavian cinema in the early 2000s: matter-of- fact examinations of ordinary, working class Scandinavian folks, with intersecting lives and stories, shot in stark black-and-white (typified by films such as Ragnar Bragasson's Born), and the low-key, whimsical, offbeat humor of northern European directors such as Aki Kaurismaki.Dark Horse opens in Copenhagen, where Daniel, a twentysomething young man, makes a paltry living as a graffiti painter, accepting money from Danish residents to create personalized valentines on the sides of buildings. Unable to collect enough from this trade to pay his rent, he is evicted and must approach his father for lodging, but the father refuses, forcing Daniel to sleep in his car. Daniel's friend Roger (nicknamed "Grandpa") works at a local medical clinic that is conducting sleep experiments on volunteers, including a judge; in Roger's off time, he trains as a football referee. Roger confides in Daniel about his discovery of a former model Franc, who works at a local bakery; Daniel and Franc inevitably then become involved, to Roger's consternation, and Roger plots to intervene by attempting to win Franc for himself. Meanwhile, the judge, suffering from pronounced sleep deprivation, has a complete emotional and mental breakdown and flies off the handle, engaging in increasingly bizarre and dysfunctional behavior. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

Mifunes Sidste Sang is the third feature produced according to the Dogma 95 manifesto, ten strict rules drawn up by the Danish directors Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg. The title of the film refers to the late Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune, who played a bogus samurai of peasant origins in Akira Kurosawa's Shichinin no Samurai/ Seven Samurai. The protagonist, Kresten, comes from humble country origins but now lives in the yuppie circles of Copenhagen and has the prospects of a glittering career until a telephone call on his wedding night shatters his hopes of a better life. Kresten's father has just died; he has always told everyone he knows, including his wife Claire, that he has no living family, but now he has to explain he does have one after all. When he returns to his father's dilapidated farmhouse, he meets his elder brother Rud, who is mentally retarded. Kresten is embarrassed by the prospect of having his poverty-stricken past unveiled and keeps his wife away, telling one lie after another. While trying to settle things on the farm, he becomes attached to his brother and tries to find a housekeeper to help alleviate the horrible conditions he is living in, so Kresten can go back to his comfortable life without feelings of guilt. However, the housekeeper turns out to be a high-class hooker on the run, and Kresten is extremely attracted to her. Meanwhile his wife, who is beginning to get suspicious, is threatening to join him. The basic philosophy behind the film is you can't lie your way out of the past on the farm. Director Soren Kragh-Jacobsen followed the Dogma 95 rules closely in this film -- the music is recorded along with the images, the camera is hand-held, there is no artificial lighting, no props, the plot takes place here and now without superficial action, no guns or murders. But unlike Lars von Trier's Dogma film, The Idiots, it was not shot on video and the director admits to adding a shrub or two to the farm scenes. Mifunes Sidste Sang-Dogme 3 received the Jury Grand Prix Silver Bear at the 49th Berlin International Film Festival in 1999, while actress Iben Hjejle got a Special Mention for her role as Liva, the prostitute. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, All Movie Guide

The undying vampire Radu Vladislas (Anders Hove) returns in this film, the fourth in the Subspecies series. Michelle Morgan (Denice Duff), a vampire in training under Radu's control, falls ill and is taken to a hospital, where a canny doctor (Mihai Dinvale) recognizes her symptoms and claims he can cure her vampirism. Michelle's treatments have a powerful effect on Radu as well, and he must find her and bring her back to the lair of the vampire leader Ash (Jonathon Morris) before she is taken from the ranks of the undead, spelling doom for Radu and his followers. Subspecies: The Awakening was also released under the title Subspecies 4: Bloodstorm. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

First there was Subspecies (1991) a vampire flick actually filmed on location in Transylvania. This one concerned an attack by, and eventual subduing of, high-tech bloodsuckers. In Bloodstone: Subspecies 2 (1993) surviving vampire Radu (Anders Hove), in concert with his repulsive mother, decimates the Rumanian countryside. The story is further elaborated upon in Bloodlust 3: Subspecies (aka Bloodlust: Subspecies 3). This time, Radu goes after Michelle (Denice Duff), who's successfully thwarted him in the past. Michelle learns that Radu's plans go far beyond Transylvania-he must be stopped for good! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A disparate pair of vampiric brothers tussle for the possession of their father's powerful bloodstone in this violent horror outing that was shot on location in Transylvania. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Donna (Birgitte Simonsen) has boyfriends, but she loves Britt (Hanne Windfeld Lund). Britt loves Donna back, but she's going to get married to a man who's probably not good husband material (Ole Lemmkeke). The two of them try to make sense of their lives and loves, but ultimately they are only sure that they care about each other. It turns out that some of their men care about each other, too. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

This entertaining tragi-comedy looks at the contradictions in a nurse's (Kirsten Lehfeldt) personality and how they work against her. Henriette (Lehfeldt) leaves her boyfriend when he makes it clear that he does not want marriage or children, and she transfers her affections to Leowe (Torben Jensen), a surgeon at the hospital where she works. She is leery of showing her true feelings, hiding them by being a little quirky. Leowe is not exactly a perfect companion either and is not interested in marriage. Soon that relationship starts to spell trouble in capital letters, causing Henry to make some radical decisions. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide