Nicolaj Kopernikus Movies

A small boy with a big dream of riding an elephant finds his hopes suddenly dashed when the curmudgeonly superintendent who presides over the apartment building informs the tenants that in order to rent the grounds for their extravagant summer party they will have to pay an exorbitant fee. All signs indicated that this would be the best party ever; not only was there going to be plenty of great food, but the organizers promised to bring in a live elephant in order to entertain the children! Frode couldn't have been looking forward to the party more. But then the superintendent proved to be a stickler for details, insisting that the tenants cough up a tidy sum for use of the apartment grounds. His dreams now fading before his very eyes, Frode discovers that downstairs neighbor Mr. Storm has been the victim of mysterious burglaries, and that he's offered a substantial reward for the capture of the culprit responsible for the crimes. Now, if Frode and his friends can beat their bitter rivals the basement gang to nabbing the burglar, perhaps they can use the reward money to finance the party and make this the most memorable summer ever. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Danish director Tomas Villum Jensen's acerbic satire Clash of Egos stars Ulrich Thomsen as Tonny, a husband and father so rage-addled that he got sent to jail for KO'ing a man in public. Tonny's wife, Tanja (Ellen Hillingso), grew humiliated and promptly divorced him, but Tonny luckily managed to swing occasional custody of his two children. On one of their prized afternoons together, Tonny and the kids hearken off to see the new Harry Potter movie, but run headfirst into the discouraging news that the film is sold out. With only one other option available to them at the cinema, the three must endure a thoroughly miserable afternoon at an über-pretentious Danish film called "The Murderer," directed by the snotty artiste director Claus Volter (Nikolaj Lie Kaas in a characterization reportedly inspired by Lars von Trier) . Frustrated, Tonny smashes a window in the cinema lobby (and barely manages to escape re-incarceration for it), then decides to track Volter down to demand a refund on their ticket and concession costs -- little knowing the misery he is about to cause in the life of this revered "film artist." ~ 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