Film Review: Mifune (Mifunes sidste sang, 1999)
One of the more interesting chapter in the recent history of cinema began in 1995 with founding of Dogme 95, film movement led by Danish director Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg. The general idea was to provide authentic and “pure” alternative to commercial cinema through the set of very strict rules (ban on genre and period settings, no music, no props, locations instead of studio studio sets, video instead of film tape etc.) specifically outlined in the group’s manifests. The movement resulted in relatively small number of films usually met with lukewarm reviews and all but completely ignored by any audience other than fans of arthouse cinema. One of the more successful Dogme 95 film was Mifune (or Mifune’s Last Song), 1999 romantic comedy written and directed by Søren Kragh-Jacobsen.
Kragh-Jacobsen claimed that he got inspiration for the film by accident, when hearing about the death of great Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune, star of Kurosawa’s classic samurai films. The best known of these is Seven Samurai in which Mifune played Kikujiro, common peasant trying to pass as samurai. Protagonist of Mifune shares certain similarities with Kikujiro, namely as having modest rural background he is ashamed of and trying to infiltrate higher strata of society. The beginning of the film suggests that he did a very good job at it. Kresten (played by Anders W. Berthelsen) not only managed to impress the management at Copenhagen firm, but also married his boss’ daughter Claire (played by Sofie Gråbøl). His idyllic life is shattered when he learns that his father has passed away, so he is now forced to remote family farm on the island of Lolland, while trying to hide as much of his embarrassing family situation from his in-laws as possible. On the farm he must take care of mentally retarded brother Rud (played by Jesper Asholt), which he finds very difficult to do. So, he puts an ad for a housekeeper, which is answered by Liva Psilander (played by Iben Hjejle), beautiful woman with secrets of her own. She is former prostitute who were selling herself in order to pay boarding school for 13-year old brother Bjarke (played by Emil Tading). After quarrell with her pimp, she is harassed over the phone by mysterious maniac.
Some of the more snobbish supporters of Dogme 95 were likely to attack Kragh-Jacobsen for betraying some of the tenets of the movement or simply using its “rules” as a gimmick to sell typically Hollywood-like commercial story which isn’t even original. This mostly relates to similarities between plots and characters of Mifune and those in Rain Man. However, Kragh-Jacobsen managed to adhere to Dogme 95 manifesto in the ways that made his film look sufficiently different and, therefore, quite refreshing in comparison with Hollywood products of the same genre. In Mifune he also managed to mix ultra-dark and depressive themes characteristic of Danish art cinema with genuine humour and bring actual sympathies for characters. Much of the credit should go to very good cast, especially charming Iben Hjejle who, thanks to her portrayal of Liva managed to win major Hollywood role in High Fidelity a year later. Jasper Asholt, on other hand, goes slightly over the top in the role of retarded man which looks a little bit too much like a typical “Oscar”-bait. Fans of The Killing, popular Danish crime TV series, would probably appreciate opportunity to watch Sofie Gråbøl in a role very different from the one that got her international fame. Some of the scenes near the end seem little bit out of place. However, Mifune is nevertheless a very good film that serves as perhaps the best possible introduction to Dogme 95 and the world of art cinema in general to those who aren’t accustomed to alternatives to Hollywood conventions.
RATING: 7/10 (++)
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