Bottom Row (L-R): FOR EVIGT (Nordisk Film); Birthday Girl (Nordisk Film).
In addition to all of the other reviews I’m publishing by themselves, and other relevant articles to kick off the year, I am also starting the year by publishing a small handful of bite-sized review compilation posts. In this edition, I’ll give you my thoughts on two Danish films from last year that didn’t fully win me over, as well as an American horror film released 12 months ago, and John Krasinski’s family film about imaginary friends.
F.A.Q.
- What are Additional Bite-Sized Reviews?
– My movie and television catch-up review series ‘Additional Bite-Sized Reviews‘ is an evolution of the Overview-article section previously titled ‘What I Didn’t Write About.’ In articles such as this one, I will provide my readers with my thoughts on select new films, new shows, or even classics that I feel like giving my thoughts on relatively briefly, since I don’t have the time to dedicate thorough reviews to them at this point in time. - Why do the bite-sized reviews not include either a letter grade or a review score?
– In my full and thorough reviews, I like to score or grade what I watch. But since these reviews aren’t as detailed, I think it is fairer to the films and shows to simply just decide whether or not to recommend them. I guess you could say this is the only type of review that is basically ‘scored’ with the classic thumbs-up/thumbs-down-method on my site, though sometimes my recommendation answer comes with a caveat.
Night Swim | Film | Directed by Bryce McGuire | Screenplay by Bryce McGuire | Release Year: 2024 | Recommended?: No.
I had obviously heard about this movie for quite some time, as it was basically the January punching bag that comes around every year to exemplify how, often, the first month of the year is the time of the year where studios dump films they have low expectations for critically. And, yes, this one is indeed a dud in more ways than one. It is yet another example of a shoddy 2024 horror release that wastes its concept through subpar execution. Wyatt Russell and Kerry Condon deserve better.
Look, the original short film was, at best, OK, and thus the feature-length adaptation is proof that some horror movie concepts just can’t be extended to feature-length without it falling apart entirely. It, of course, doesn’t help that the adaptation decided to do the most generic things possible, as it uses plenty of tropes and is thus so cliche-filled. Keeping a running tally of how many tropes it uses — all of which will remind you of better films — would probably be a lot more interesting than actually watching the film as a horror movie because not only is it extremely unoriginal, it is also just ineffective and thus not scary whatsoever.
To get the most out of the premise, you would think they would either go to horror movie extremes or lean into a comedic SNL sketch vibe. But it doesn’t ever do the former, as it is a PG-13 horror film that pulls its punches. And, while it definitely would’ve made more sense (and probably been quite effective) as an SNL sketch or a horror spoof film idea, it is mostly unintentionally funny, in spite of certain scenes here and there that are clearly meant to be offbeat, weirdly comedic moments like the ‘Marco Polo’ stuff or that one pool maintenance guy.
Unfortunately, it also fails to end on a high note for a horror film. It is an ending that boggles the mind in more ways than one, as the rules become quite unclear, the situation resolves itself in a strange way, and, then, the very ending makes you question the thought-processes of the main characters. I will say, though, that there are some effective underwater sequences with the gravity scene being quite neat.
IF | Film | Directed by John Krasinski | Screenplay by John Krasinski | Release Year: 2024 | Recommended?: Unsure.
Well, it’s certainly a lot better than Imaginary. This film, Krasinski’s latest, belongs in the ‘I wanted to like this more than I did’ section. Don’t get me wrong, it does effectively tug at your heartstrings. I don’t mind admitting that it made me emotional at moments. I thought Giacchino’s score was solid. The same goes for Kaminski’s cinematography. Heck, I thought Cailey Fleming was really good in this as the film’s lead. I don’t think it’s a bad movie, it just feels off, in a way.
The film’s biggest problem may, frankly, be that it doesn’t know who it is for. When I pressed play I assumed this was something Krasinski really made for his kids, but, honestly, sometimes it feels like children aren’t its target audience despite the designs of some of the so-called IFs like Steve Carell’s Blue. For long stretches, it’s a lot sadder than seems wise for live-action films marketed for kids. It’s clear Krasinski is really gong for ideas that were expressed much better previously in Pixar films that this film can’t hold a candle to. I should also say that the film’s final reveal about one of its characters was quite obvious.
On the plus side, Krasinski does include a terrific reality changing sequence, which includes a character crawling out of an oil painting, that is just bursting with creativity and energy. If the rest of the film around it had had that same inventiveness, then it might’ve ended up as a more memorable film.
For Evigt | Film | Directed by Ulaa Salim | Screenplay by Ulaa Salim | Release Year: 2024 | Recommended?: No.
It borrows elements from everything from Interstellar and Solaris to The Core, but is nowhere near as thought-provoking or as entertaining as any of those films. OK, maybe that’s not all that surprising. Look, I think it is wildly ambitious to do a straight-faced sci-fi love drama in the Danish film industry, but, unfortunately, it doesn’t fully work.
The acting performances of the key players are fine, but certain scenes are filled with stilted dialogue (and sometimes certain lines are a tad on the nose). But, really, its bigger problems are the fact that the sci-fi plot is quite tedious and unengaging, while the central romantic drama lacks the vitality, originality, and chemistry needed to overcome its relatively slow pace.
Birthday Girl | Film | Directed by Michael Noer | Screenplay by Jesper Fink and Michael Noer | Release Year: 2024 | Recommended?: Unsure.
I have mixed feelings about Michael Noer’s Birthday Girl, one of last year’s Danish films that I had been the most intrigued by given the team working on it (in front of and behind the camera). It’s basically How to Have Sex set on a cruise headed for the Bahamas but with the focus on a determined mother’s search for the culprit. As the poster indicates, it is filled with lots of pretty and enticing colors and lights, and the setting is a character of its own, basically. A lot of effort has gone into crafting the mother character played by Trine Dyrholm. Her clothing, make-up, and extensions all say so much about her character, and Dyrholm should be commended for her solid performance. The film also stars Flora Ofelia Hofmann Lindahl, who is a young rising star in Denmark, and while she does, in theory, get an important part here (she is the titular birthday girl), I was frustrated by the writing that Flora Ofelia was saddled with. While she gives a decent-enough performance, I thought the character was underwritten and that the performance was let down by the screenplay.
There’s something off about this one. Maybe it’s because it feels like it wants to have its cake and eat it too. On the one hand, it wants to be a drama with something to say about victim-blaming and mother-daughter relationships in the face of hardship (and is thus at its best in the scene where Dyrholm and Flora Ofelia dance at the silent disco together). But, on the other hand, it also wants to be an almost Liam Neeson-esque rape-revenge film from the perspective of the parent, but it shies (and cuts) away when the film gets ready to have its characters come to blows and thus never really reaches the thriller crescendo that Dyrholm’s captivating rampage through the cruise had been building to. It ends up not really being good enough at any of the two options. As such, this is the kind of almost anticlimactic mixed bag that doesn’t reach its full potential.
– Reviews Written by Jeffrey Rex Bertelsen.
I'm Jeffrey Rex 