New, high-concept Danish mini-series. Original title: Familier som vores. The first two episodes have aired.
This show could be good. Writer-director Thomas Vinterberg is a highly talented auteur who has never quite broken through to universal recognition, despite being nominated for the Best Director Oscar a few years back. I have to confess that I don’t always like his work, but I admire his flair, his originality and his heart. Even when he strikes out, he always takes a good cut.
Countries disappear, love remains. Denmark, in a not-too-distant future. The rising water levels can no longer be ignored and the country needs to be evacuated. As people disperse in all directions, they must bid farewell to what they love, what they know, and who they are. Slowly but steadily, everything changes. All property becomes worthless, all fortunes shift, and luck favors only a few. Those who can afford it travel to affluent countries while the less well-off depend on government-funded relocation to more challenging destinations. Families, friends, and loved ones are separated. Some will be overcome by hatred and division, while others will nurture love and foster new beginnings. Against this backdrop we meet Laura, a high school student in love for the first time and on the cusp of graduation. When news of the evacuation breaks, the course of Laura and her family’s lives are changed forever, and Laura is forced into the impossible dilemma of choosing between the three people she loves the most.
Despite the nice things I said about Vinterberg above, I dislike how he shot this scene. I hate his choice of focus, and I hate the Stygian darkness. He was one of the original Dogme 95 adherents, and some of those principles linger in his distaste for Hollywood-style lighting. Frankly, I wish he’d scrap that thinking, head down to the Danish equivalent of Home Depot (Home and Herring?), and pick up a bunch of powerful light bulbs.
Film clip here