Hidden Gem: 'Copenhagen' (2014)
There's something about films set in the summer months that makes them resonate with a sort of tension, a push-pull between the seemingly endless possibilities brought about by beautiful weather, and the sluggishness that bogs you down when the heat becomes so overpowering that all you want to do is sit in your darkened bedroom to avoid swamp ass.
Summer is full of chances for reinvention, if only you can escape that sluggishness and go right into exploration and adventure.
This tension is beautifully explored by a small, independent gem of a film, Copenhagen, directed by Mark Raso as his first feautre debut. It's not perfect by any means, but it navigates the shift from complacence to action deftly and realisticlally, all while offering some truly enchanting images of Denmark's Copenhagen.
I want to go to there.
The film follows William (played by Gethin Anthony, best know for his stint on Game of Thrones as Renly Baratheon), a 28-year-old serial-seducer and aimless drifter, who travels to Copenhagen hoping to meet his grandfather. After being abandoned by his travelling companions, William meets Effy (Frederikke Dahl Hansen), a young girl who helps William track down his grandfather using only an old letter, while also showing him the best sights of Copenhagen and changing the way he thinks about relationships--the only problem is that Effy is 14-years-old.
With this last revelation, William is forced to confront the way he lives. As the film's tagline puts it (a little heavy-handedly): "When the girl of your dreams is half your age, it's time to grow up."
To put it more bluntly, William realizes his creep factor is through the roof, and unless he wants a Lolita-type situation on his hands, he'd better start re-evaluating the way he views and treats women.
"Your skin is so soft." "Thanks, I use Neutrogena for Kids."
This is where that tension comes in. William must choose between falling back into his complacent, sluggish ways, full of nameless women in identical hotel rooms, night after night. Or, he can use his experience with Effy to demonstrate that he can have meaningful relationships with women.
In short, William has to decide whether he wants to leave Neverland and grow up.
Raso's film is by no means perfect. Some shots seem to linger for too long, giving the work an off-kilter pacing, which isn't helped by the slower middle sections that seem a little more stagnant than the rest of the film. Nevertheless, Raso does an excellent job exploring what it means to grow up and confront your responsibilities.
Copenhagen also provides a perfect backdrop for William's narrative. Looking like a picture postcard town, Copenhagen is truly a fairytale setting, a place where you can escape--a sort of Neverland. An apt title, then, Copenhagen becomes as much a character in the film as Effy and William.
The only question is, will they both adventure on, or get stuck in past ways?
With an excellently nuanced script and a virtuosic performance from Dahl Hansen, Copenhagen isn't your typical summer EuroTrip movie--it is much, much more.
I give this film 2.5/4 Accidental Pedophiles
