Review of In a Better World (2010) by Havi E — 13 May 2011
"In a Better World" turns out to be a tarted-up version of an ABC-TV afterschool special. Its Danish provenance - three cheers for Dogme and all that - was sufficient to take in most of the critics and the film-festival types.
Not to mention the Academy. A notoriously gullible lot. Susanne Bier cannibalizes her 2006 film "After the Wedding" for a central plot device, but it seems clunkier here. The melodrama is delivered straight up, and it quickly piles up, eventually attracting flies.
By the denouement at the hospital bed, when all the families are reconciled and restored - I did mention afterschool specials didn't I - I was both gagging and snickering. Hate to slam a Danish film (my mother's people!), but this is pure "lort.
" Your Danish word for the day.
This review of In a Better World (2010) was written by Havi E on 13 May 2011.
In a Better World has generally received very positive reviews.
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