[Thor Joachim Haga]

Just came back from a “double feature”.

First was Gus van Sant’s DEAD MAN’S WIRE, which was a pretty straightforward hostage drama — but the real-life source story was rather thin, so it didn’t do much to heighten the proceedings. It’s like “boiling soup on nails”, as a Norwegian expression goes. But great 70s colourite, washed out, heavy on browns. Elfman’s percussive score tries to do another DEAD PRESIDENTS, but never reaches those levels. It plays second fiddle to the period songs.

Second was the German film AMRUM by GEGEN DIE WAND director Fatih Akin. A rather sweet coming-of-age story set on the island of Amrum (in the North of Germany, close to the Danish border — in fact, it was part of Denmark once) at the tailend of the second world war. About a young son in a nazi household that tries to uphold his mother’s morale by trying to find a whitebread with honey and sugar, but also coming to terms with nazism’s true face. It’s a fairly straightforward narrative again (kinda Oscar-baity…think THE BOOK THIEF), but the real attraction – at least for me – was the island setting, an island whose topography reminds me of Fur in the north of Denmark (where we’ve had a summer house since the early 80s). Some wonderful totals and mood shots, I just wish there were more!