Wildland
Original Title
Kød & Blod- Director: Jeanette Nordahl
- Writer: Ingeborg Topsøe
- Producer: Eva Jakobsen; Mikkel Jersin; Katrin Pors
CGiii Comment
Well...as a statement on Danish social services, it - basically - kicks them - square - in the ghoulies. What incompetent fools they are...placing a teenage girl with a known criminal family just after her mother dies! Okay...so the family is estranged family...with relatives like these, who needs enemies!?!
This is not a pleasant film...not even by any stretch of the wildest imagination. It's not exactly predictable...but, you know it's going to end in someone's tears.
Why 'they' changed the title is bewildering, [the literal translation] Flesh & Blood really does encapsulate everything that this film is all about...these are demi-gangsters à la Snowtown as opposed to those in Animal Kingdom - similarities with both films are too obvious to ignore. When walking on familiar territories, it's best to do so with new boots...there were no new boots with this outing!
There's a whiff of lesbian subtext...mind you, it is just a whiff. Teenage, grieving girl meets feisty, assertive older girl...well, let's just say...it's a one-way street...and, a bit of a dead-end. Is she questioning her sexuality? Well, we'll never know. In that respect, the film leaves you dangling...but, in a split second, you come crashing to the ground. The finality of it all is a brutal, short, sharp shock on the senses.
It certainly is a film that will leave you with a loose jaw. Not bad for a debut...but, a pair of new boots would have kicked it into a brand new territory.
Trailer...
The(ir) Blurb...
“You’re too baked, sweetheart”, says Mads´ mother after greeting him with a kiss on the lips. In this family it is okay to bend the law, as long as you do it right. A twisted lesson the 17-year-old Ida is about to learn. Having recently lost her mother in a car accident, she has been taken in by her aunt and three cousins, whom she barely knows. Theirs is a loving home, but it soon transpires that the family, led by its caring but disciplinarian matriarch, engages in criminal activities. As boundaries keep on being pushed, Ida finds herself torn between her safety and the allure of her cousins’ ferocious behaviour. When the clan descends into conflict with the police, Ida has to decide what is more dear to her: the loyalty to her new family or her own life.
Featuring a superb central performance by newcomer Sandra Guldberg Kampp, Jeanette Nordahl’s fiercely intelligent debut is an arresting study of family and dysfunctionality, the nourishing and burdensome nature of love, and the complexity of desire. An impressive mix of remarkable camerawork, exquisite writing, and a visceral, electronic score. An intense film that runs deep.
Cast & Characters
Sidse Babett Knudsen as Bodil
Elliott Crosset Hove as David
Carla Philip Røder as Anna (as Carla Valentina Røder)
Sofie Torp as Marie
Sandra Guldberg Kampp as Ida
Besir Zeciri as Mads
Omar Shargawi as Omar
Benjamin Kitter as Politibetjent Jonathan
Henrik Vestergaard as Sofias far
Joachim Fjelstrup as Jonas
Marie Knudsen Fogh as Sarah
Maria Esther Lemvigh as Hanne
Frida Sejersen as Sofia