Hold om mig (2010)

Hold om mig (2010). Hold om mig: Directed by Kaspar Munk. With Julie Brochorst Andersen, Frederik Christian Johansen, Sofia Cukic, Hicham Najid. What should be just another school day for teenagers Sara, Mikkel, Louise and Hassan turns out forever scarred. One-by-one seemingly minor events snowball things completely out of control, and leaves everyone involved marked for life.

“Four teenagers, all with their own problems, attending the same class have their lives dramatically change in the course of 24 hours. The reason is jealousy, peer pressure and how isolated from one another kids are. This is tremendously well-acted. I would say that Cukic has a few off moments; this may also be because she is excessively cruel. The characters in this are very neutral(presumably to keep them from becoming so specific that not all audience members can relate to them; this is not to be confused with stereotypical), so in order to create and escalate conflict(something this does not always do convincingly and in a natural manner), they have to behave in ways that donu0026#39;t mesh with what weu0026#39;ve seen them be like. Andersen has very expressive eyes, and she uses them well. Keep a look-out for anything else she may appear in. I have heard this described as rather intense, and I disagree; my best guess as to why is that we donu0026#39;t really feel like we know these people. Again, they are too vague. They are developed, though, and we do genuinely sympathize with all of them. Their relations with one another arenu0026#39;t always credible, but the ones between them and their parents are. This is Munku0026#39;s first feature(I understand his shorts are critically acclaimed), and he does remarkably well. He doesnu0026#39;t overuse the tools at his disposal, in fact, the direction is almost flawless. The use of sound is good, and the use of silence is perfect. There is little music in this, and it isnu0026#39;t manipulative. Instead, it is underplayed. Editing and cinematography are fantastic. Very tight shots, without being excessive in that regard. Yes, the script is the writer of Kollegiet/Room 205; however, he has greatly improved since then. At 75 minutes, this doesnu0026#39;t overstay its welcome, and it doesnu0026#39;t solve everything. Lifeu0026#39;s troubles arenu0026#39;t taken care of in the space of 90 minutes. There is a lot of disturbing content(including a sort of u0026quot;fake rapeu0026quot;), as well as a little sexuality, full frontal male nudity and strong language in this. I recommend this to anyone that feel they can handle it. The best of the three recent Danish films that deal with bullying in some capacity, the other two being My Best Enemy and Civilization(Hævnen). 8/10”