formenteralady Reviews

The Promised Land (2023)

A beautiful and well balanced story with great acting

[10/10 · 20 October 2023]

This was a surprisingly good movie. I've been disappointed by quite a few period drama pieces from the last years, so my expectations going in were not very high, especially given the description of it being "Western set in 18th century Denmark". But going out of the theatre I had to admit that I had a near perfect cinema experience. The movie was beautifully filmed with nearly each frame being a work of art. The acting was superb and the characters were interesting and well-developed. Mads Mikkelsen was stellar in his role, and I loved Ann Barbara, Anmai Mus and the priest. Simon Bennebjerg was great as the unhinged, but charismatic Frederik de Schinkel. The plot wasn't particularly original, but it kept you invested in the story, and was logical and well-rounded and the ending left no loose threads. The love story was compelling without being overly dramatic - because most love stories aren't! Another reviewer commented that it felt unnatural to him but to me on contrary it felt very realistic that these characters would seek out each other's warmth and comfort in the circumstances they were placed in. Other parts were well-balanced too - it had just enough blood and fighting and torture scenes to get the story across, but none just for drama's sake. The movie borrowed a lot of elements from the Western genre, but it felt authentic and in no way like a Hollywood clone. All in all, it was fantastic, well rounded film and a great cinematic experience.

Happiest Season (2020)

Two hours of my life I'm never getting back

[1/10 · 22 December 2020]

I almost never write reviews, but this was so awful that it would be a disservice on my part not to warn others. I did not expect a cinematographic masterpiece, and just wanted something light and heartwarming to wind down, but this was just... a different level of awful. Apart from the terrible plot (come on, are we still in the 1980's?), non-existent acting, terrible attempts at "humor", my main issue is that this movie normalises abusive, toxic relationships. It was quite triggering actually, and the fact that so many found it sweet is very concerning. The last 10 minutes felt like a can of excessively sweet syrup poured on a pile of horse manure.