Mifune Reaction

I really ended up enjoying this Danish film.

The strict set of rules that are a part of Dogme films gave Mifune a disticntly different flavor than that of an American film. One of the stipulations of the Dogme is that no artificial lighting may be used. Another is that no sound outside of what can be recorded with equipment on set may be added. That really impressed me because it seems like it would be a very limiting factor.

Also, the rare instances of music in the film (like the living room scene with the man playing the guitar) were made all the more special because they were part of the story. It was almost like a breath of fresh air. Music is something an American film viewer takes for granted because it often informs how we are supposed to feel about a particular scene or gesture.

Overall, I really enjoyed it.

Danish Week!

Firstly, the movie we watched in class, Mifune, was easily one of the weirdest movies I have seen. And I do not mean that negatively, because I did enjoy some parts of it. I enjoyed the fact that it wasn't your average movie and it was very modern for its time with its rather explicit scenes. Overall, I did like it, even though there were a few moments were I was left in confusion, the movie was well made. One somewhat little thing that I thought stood out in a good way was that they didn't use loud music to play up the emotions of the scene.

Secondly, the guest speaker, Wenche, was very interesting. She made some very good points about our government and overall way of life. I do believe that Denmark and the Danish people as a whole have some great qualities that everyone can learn from; however, just like a few people mentioned already, the U.S. is not as bad as she made it seem. Yes, we do have room to improve but it could definitely be worse. The main thing that I took from her talk was the questions that she brought up. She mentioned our bi-partisan governing style and a few other things that are clearly not working for our country and she said that these things needed to change. I really haven't given it that much thought before, so it was rather eye-opening.

Mifune Reaction

I found Mifune to be a very interesting film. However, not in the same way I might appreciate a more typical style movie. The Dogma-95 style film almost made me feel like I was intruding on the lives of these people. It was just so raw and seemed very honest. However the honesty was only so believable. The characters' stories were far fetched and seemed to be exaggerated. I don't believe that the marriage between Claire and Kresten would have ever happened. A relationship based on that many secrets simply does not seem possible. Additionally, why would Claire react the way she did and ask for divorce immediately? You would think that she would at least stick around to hear Kresten's story.

There also were a lot of parts of the story that were left unanswered. Like the prostitute friends that attacked Kresten - what really happened there?

Overall, I did not particularly like the film. The story did not seem to be complete. The Dogma-95 style film was an interesting concept, however, without developing the characters further it was a bit lost.