Thomas Vinterberg’s latest drama focuses on Nick and his younger brother. In childhood they were separated by a tragedy that still shrouds them in guilt. As adults they have become lost souls: the older survives through weightlifting, beer drinking, and by taking care of the outsiders around him. The younger divides his time between his little boy and drugs. Will the brothers find their way back to each other before it’s too late?
In his sixth feature film, director Thomas Vinterberg returns to his directing origins – uncompromising realism and an interest in dysfunctional family relationships. Based on the novel by young Danish writer Jonas T. Bengtsson, the story focuses on two brothers who were marked in childhood by an alcoholic mother and feelings of guilt over a tragic event they were involved in. Now adults, they live in the bleak world of Copenhagen’s suburbs among lost souls trying to keep their heads above water (the film’s title refers to a kind of torture in which the victim’s head is held under water to the point of drowning). Fresh out of prison, Nick tries to survive with the help of beer and weightlifting, compensating for his sense of loss by caring for the outsiders around him. The only one he can’t reach is his younger brother, who, after the death of his wife, is the lone caretaker of his little boy Martin. Will the brothers find their way back to each other before it’s too late?
110 min / Color, 35 mm
Director Thomas Vinterberg
/ Screenplay Tobias Lindholm, Thomas Vinterberg podle románu Jonase T. Bengtssona / based on the novel by Jonas T. Bengtsson
/ Dir. of Photography Charlotte Bruus Christensen
/ Music Thomas Blachman
/ Editor Andri Stein Gudmundsson, Valdis Oskarsdóttir
/ Producer Morten Kaufmann
/ Production Nimbus Film
/ Cast Jakob Cedergren, Peter Plaugborg, Patricia Schumann, Morten Rose
/ Contact The Match Factory, Danish Film Institute
Thomas Vinterberg (b. 1969, Copenhagen) shot his first film at age 16, and three years later he was accepted to The National Film School of Denmark as its then youngest student. In 1995 he and Lars von Trier came out with the Dogma Manifesto, and Vinterberg’s second feature, The Celebration, (Festen, 1998), shot according to the rules of the manifesto, took the Jury Prize at the Cannes IFF. Vinterberg then shot two English language movies: It’s All About Love (2003) and Dear Wendy (2005 – Best Direction at the Moscow IFF). He returned to Denmark in 2007 with the comedy When a Man Comes Home (En mand kommer hjem). He has also shot music videos for Blur and Metallica. In March 2010 Vinterberg premiered a production of his play Das Begräbnis (The Funeral) at Vienna’s Burgtheater, his first time directing for the stage.
The Match Factory
Domstrasse 60, 50668, Cologne
Germany
Phone: +49 221 539 7090
E-mail: [email protected]
Danish Film Institute
Gothersgade 55, 1123, Copenhagen
Denmark
Phone: +45 337 434 00
Fax: +45 337 434 01
E-mail: [email protected]
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