Bo Ehrhardt Movies

Two siblings who grew up in a dysfunctional household pass their damage along to those around them in this drama from Danish filmmaker Thomas Vinterberg. Nick (Jacob Cedergren) was raised by a mother with serious drinking problems who inflicted physical and emotional cruelty on her children. Now in his early thirties, Nick is an ex-con who has his own problems with alcohol and little sense of direction in his life. Back on the streets after a stay in jail, Nick lives in a shabby hostel, has an on-again, off-again relationship with Sofie (Patricia Schumann), whose alcoholism has cost her custody of her children, lifts weights and sometimes looks in on Ivan (Morten Rose), the troubled brother of a girl he one loved. Meanwhile, Nick's younger brother (Peter Plaugborg) has his own demons; he's a heroin addict who is running out of ways to finance his habit, and while he loves his young son Martin (Gustav Fischer Kjaerulff), managing his habit and looking after his child are more than he can manage at the same time. Adapted from the novel by Jonas T. Bengtsson, Submarino was an official selection at the 2010 Berlin International Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

A man with a remarkable talent for violence must fight to survive when he sets out on an extraordinary journey in this fantasy from director Nicolas Winding Refn. One Eye (Mads Mikkelsen) is the nickname given to a nameless, mute warrior who has become a slave to Barde (Alexander Morton), a wealthy Scotsman who obtained One Eye for his remarkable fighting skills. One Eye is a fierce warrior but shows little loyalty to his master, and when the opportunity presents itself, One Eye murders Barde and his mercenaries and sets off on his own, with a young boy (Maarten Stevenson) tagging along to speak on his behalf. Eager to leave Denmark behind in favor of freedom and adventure, One Eye throws in his lot with a band of Christian Vikings, who've set out on an ambitious quest to travel to Jerusalem and claim the Holy Land as their own. But the voyage to the Holy City is a difficult one, and the Vikings are met with violent resistance, forcing One Eye to rely on his talents as a warrior to protect himself and his young apprentice. Valhalla Rising received its North American premiere at the 2009 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

As helmed by Scandinavian director Kathrine Windfeld, this intense Danish and English-language political thriller concerns Rikke Lynvig, a Danish journalist whose life is turned upside down and pushed to the brink of destruction when she's seized by the members of a violent terrorist cell and taken hostage in Afghanistan. Rikke's fate turn a corner when one of her captors, Nazir, suddenly unveils a theretofore unseen level of sympathy and aids her escape; after the young woman returns home safely and discovers that she has become an unlikely celebrity, Nazir pays her a visit and reveals that he has attained political asylum in Denmark. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

The sins of a father are visited upon the son who has discovered his secrets in this political thriller from director Soren Kragh-Jacobsen. Thomas Deleuran (Anders W. Berthelsen) is a puppeteer who makes his living performing for children. Ironically, Thomas had an unhappy childhood and isn't faring much better either a father or a husband; his marriage is falling apart, and his relationship with his daughter is distant at best. One evening, Thomas gets a call from his sister Charlotte (Sonja Richter), who wants to meet with him, saying she's uncovered some interesting information about their father, who worked in Swedish intelligence. Thomas and Charlotte make plans to meet the following night, but when he arrives at her place, he's informed that his sister died in a drowning incident. Thomas later meets with Ursula (Maria Bonnevie), who was romantically involved with Charlotte and a party to her secrets; between talking to her and reading the notes his sister left behind, he discovers his father was part of a classified biological warfare program in the Eighties, and the knowledge makes him a target of agents who don't want these secrets brought to light. Det Som Ingen Ved (aka What No One Knows) was an official entry at the 2008 Berlin Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

A slowly crumbling relationship begins to collapse while a man performs an unpleasant family errand in this drama from Danish filmmaker Ole Christian Madsen. Christoffer (Mads Mikkelsen) and Maja (Stine Stengade) have been married for nearly 15 years, but while on the surface they seem cordial, they've been slowly drifting apart for some time and their acrimony is beginning to rise to the surface. Christoffer and Maja are traveling from Denmark to Prague to collect the remains of Christoffer's late father; while strangers at every turn attempt to express sympathy for his loss, Christoffer himself still harbors deep resentment toward his dad and is not looking forward to bringing him home for burial in the family's plot. En route to Christoffer's father's house, Maja breaks the news that she's fallen for someone else and wants a divorce; taciturn Christoffer can't allow his anger to show while he settles affairs with Elena (Jana Plodkova) and the family's lawyer, though eventually his emotions finally come to a head. Prague received its North American premiere at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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, Rovi

A dejected beauty salon owner enters into a tenuous friendship with her shy, pre-operative transsexual neighbor in director Pernille Fischer Christensen's simmering tale of affection and compassion. Thirty-two year old Charlotte (Trine Dyrholm) may own a successful beauty salon, but her failing relationship with increasingly unstable live-in boyfriend Kristian (Frank Thiel) has found her opting to strike out on her own for a change. As Charlotte embarks on a series of strictly sexual one-night stands upstairs, downstairs neighbor Veronica (David Dencik) - born Ulrick - earns her keep as a dominatrix while taking female hormones, awaiting approval for gender reassignment surgery, and occasionally accepting provisions from his doting mother (Elsebeth Steentoft). When Charlotte requests the help of her downstairs neighbor in moving some furniture and carelessly identifies Veronica as a male, the depressive pre-op laments her chances for surgery and attempts to overdose on pills. Her suicide-attempt unexpectedly announced to her neighbors thanks to her whimpering dog Miss Daisy, Veronica is subsequently saved when Charlotte hears the animal's desperate cries and rushes her ailing neighbor to the hospital. Her selfless favor returned when Veronica defends her against a drunken Kristian shortly thereafter, lonely Charlotte eventually finds herself developing strong feelings for her neighbor despite her longstanding preference for the opposite sex. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

An estranged couple are brought back together as they run for their lives in a future world where science as well as emotions have gone haywire in this sci-fi drama from director Thomas Vinterberg. In the year 2021, the world seems to have become a very strange place; an unexplained ailment is causing children to drop dead on the streets of New York, ice storms and floods strike major cities without notice, summer is marked by periodic snowfalls, and a strange hole has appeared in the Ugandan sky that causes people to loose the grip of gravity and drift off into space. In the midst of all this, internationally known figure skater Elena (Claire Danes) is getting divorced from her husband John (Joaquin Phoenix) after an 18-month separation. John has arrived in New York City to have Elena sign the divorce papers, but after finally making his way through her entourage, he discovers her to be unhappy and out of sorts, and she asks him to stay. John soon learns that Elena and her staff have a secret -- David (Alun Armstrong), her manager, has had Elena cloned, and now there are three duplicates of her to stand in if she should be killed or injured. John's discovery puts both him and Elena in grave danger, and they are soon on the run from David and his underlings. Meanwhile, Marciello (Sean Penn) ponders the unstable state of the world as he flies from one place to another after a heroic dose of pills designed to combat the fear of flying. It's All About Love received its North American premier at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi