THURSDAY, DEC. 01 – 8:20 PM
DENMARK
The Red Chapel
(Det røde kapel)
Denmark 2009. Director: Mads Brügger
With: Mads Brügger, Simon Jul Jørgensen, Jacob Nossell
“Denmark launches an all-out attack on North Korea in this has-to-be-seen-to-be-believed documentary that ventures into territory somewhere between Michael Moore and Borat. Bankrolled by Lars von Trier’s Zentropa production company, the aptly named Mads Brügger travels to Pyongyang on a feigned mission of cultural exchange, bringing a camera crew and the Danish-Korean slapstick-comedy team Red Chapel. The duo consists of Simon, who aims to perform an acoustic rendition of Oasis’s ‘Wonderwall’ accompanied by a choir of Korean schoolgirls, and Jacob, a self-described ‘spastic’ whose mangled speech is incomprehensible to the minders assigned to ‘assist’ the troupe. And while the duped hosts get more than they bargain for — a lot more — the Danish visitors find things aren’t as ethically clear-cut as they’d prefer them to be” (Museum of Modern Art, New York). “Part performance stunt, part investigate piece ... Shocking, funny and wildly outrageous” (Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times). Grand Prize, World Cinema — Documentary, Sundance 2010. Colour, Digibeta video, in English, Danish, and Korean with English subtitles. 88 mins.
THURSDAY, DEC. 01 – 6:30 PM FINLAND
Lapland Odyssey
(Napapiirin sankarit)
Finland/Iceland/Sweden 2010. Director: Dome Karukoski
Cast: Jussi Vatanen, Jasper Pääkkönen, Timo Lavikainen, Pamela Tola,
Kari Ketonen
“Dome Karukoski’s raucous road movie may be the hippest, freshest comedy to emerge from Finland in years. Lapland Odyssey is set in Finland’s far north, where the sun is an infrequent visitor and jobs are even scarcer. The environment doesn’t exactly breed ambition — favourite pastimes for young men include sleeping, drinking, video games, moaning about the lack of opportunities, and more drinking and sleeping. Janne is especially skilled at sleeping. In fact, for the last couple of years he’s chosen to sleep in rather than fulfill a promise of buying a TV converter for his girlfriend, Inari. This hasn’t bothered her much, but today turns out to be different. When Inari finds out that Janne spent the money for the converter on drinks with his friends Raiha and Kapu, she offers an ultimatum: get it by first thing tomorrow morning or get out!” (Steve Gravestock, Toronto I.F.F.). Colour, Blu-ray Disc, in English, Finnish, Swedish, and Russian with English subtitles. 92 mins.
Screenings restricted to 18+.
Pacific Cinémathèque
membership required unless
otherwise indicated.
