Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: In a Better World/Hævnen (2010) - Bier's Big Moral Drama lives on its actors' performances

7/02/2016

In a Better World/Hævnen (2010) - Bier's Big Moral Drama lives on its actors' performances

♥♥♥♥

1 Film Excess nomination:

Best Child Actor: William Jønkh Nielsen, Markus Rygaard (lost to Kiernan Shipka for Mad Men S4)

One of the very dramatic posters for Susanne Bier's In a Better World

The story starts in Southern Funen, Denmark, where a boy gets bullied as 'the rat', until he gets a new friend, who knows how to fight back. In a refugee camp in Africa, the victimized boy's father works as a doctor.

In a Better World is full of moral dilemmas and is an ideal conversations starter, which certainly inspired disagreements among the people I saw it with. All the actors are outstanding, and they are the film's main quality: Trine Dyrholm (Daisy Diamond (2007)), Mikael Persbrandt (One Way (2006)) and Ulrich Thomsen (Banshee (2013-16)), but also the film's two main boy actors, William Jønkh Nielsen (Danny's Doomsday/Dannys Dommedag (2014)) and Markus Rygaard (The Great Bear/Den Kæmpestore Bjørn (2011)).
Unfortunately the script, by Anders Thomas Jensen (The Salvation (2014)) and Danish master co-writer-director Susanne Bier (Brothers/Brødre (2004)), carries the subtext out in its dialog a bit too candidly. The shakiness of the camera, (cinematographer Morten Søborg (Valhalla Rising (2009)), is unnecessary, SPOILER and I also find the ending too neat.
Still, In a Better World is a pretty good film.

Related posts:

Susanne Bier: 2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2012 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2012 in films - according to Film Excess
Love Is All You Need/Den Skaldede Frisør (2012) - Bier strikes gold with Italy-set romcom
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
Brothers/Brødre (2004) or, A Woman Came Between Them

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Approximately 5.5 mil. $ (30 mil. DKK)
Box office: 9.6 mil. $
= Big flop
[In a Better World was released August 26 and runs 118 minutes. Filming took place in and around August 2009 in Funen, Langeland and Kenya. Bier has stated about the film: "Our experiment in this film is about looking at how little it really takes before a child – or an adult – thinks something is deeply unjust. It really doesn't take much, and I find that profoundly interesting. And scary." The film opened #53 to a 33k $ first weekend in 4 theaters, peaking in 51 in North America, where it grossed 1 mil. $ (10.4 % of the total gross). The films 3 biggest markets were its native Denmark, where an impressive 448k paid admission to it, with 4.9 mil. $ (51 %), Sweden with 2.2 mil. $ (22.9 %) and Spain with 1.3 mil. $ (13.5 %). The film won the Best Foreign Film Oscar, beating Incendies, Biutiful, Dogtooth and Outside the Law, and the foreign film Golden Globe as well as the Danish Bodil Best Actress award to Dyrholm. In a Better World is certified fresh at 77 % with a 7.1 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of In a Better World?

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William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

William Hurt has passed away

Born in Washington D.C., Hurt's first film role was the lead in Altered States (1980). Later credits include Body Heat (1981), The Big Chill (1983), Gorky Park (1983), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), for which he earned his only Oscar as Best Actor; Chilrdren of a Lesser God (1986), for which he was also Oscar-nominated; Broadcast News (1987), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; Smoke (1995), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), A History of Violence (2005), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; The Good Shepherd (2006), Into the Wild (2007), Robin Hood (2010) and many more. Hurt passed away at age 71. R.I.P.

Ivan Reitman has passed away

Born in Chechoslovakia, now Slovakia, Reitman's family fled the Soviet regime to Austria, then Toronto, when he was 4 years old. Reitman broke into movies as a director with Foxy Lady (1971). Later credits include Cannibal Girls (1973), Meatballs (1979), Stripes (1981), Ghostbusters (1984), Twins (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Kindergarten Cop (1990), Junior (1994), Father's Day (1997), Evolution (1998), No Strings Attached (2011), Draft Day (2014) and more. Reitman's son Jason Reitman is also a great filmmaker. Reitman passed away at age 75. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

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7/02/2016

In a Better World/Hævnen (2010) - Bier's Big Moral Drama lives on its actors' performances

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