Kristian Halken Movies

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

Drawing inspiration from famed Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky's 1979 sci-fi classic Stalker, director/co-screenwriter Christoffer Boe's heady tale of love and memory follows an acclaimed Danish pianist as he sets out to a mysterious area known only as "The Zone" in hopes of reclaiming his memories and reconnecting with his past. Zetterstrom (Ulrich Thomsen) is a pianist who has sacrificed human emotion in order to achieve perfection. Though many years have passed since Zetterstrom left his native Copenhagen to live in New York, he is now drawn back to his birthplace in order to take part in a gala concert. Upon arriving in Copenhagen, Zetterstrom is contacted by a messenger from an off-limits area of the city known only as "The Zone" and offered an opportunity to remember his long forgotten love for the beautiful Andrea (Helena Christensen). Yet while "The Zone" can indeed resurrect the memories of the past, Zetterstrom will soon discover that there are limits to what one can accomplish by visiting this mysterious and magical landscape. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi