Review of Submarino (2010) by Jørgen E — 10 Oct 2011

As children, Nick (Jakob Cedergren) and his little brother took care of their baby brother while their alcoholic mother cared only for the next drink. But the baby died, and the brothers blamed themselves for the incident. Many years later, Nick is out of prison after serving time for an assault. He drinks, lives in a shelter and tries to help an old friend. When their mother dies, Nick finally meets his brother (Peter Plaugborg) at the funeral. The brother is a single father to a young boy, but also supports a drug habit that is spiraling out of control. When an opportunity presents itself, he becomes a drug dealer to secure his son's future. Eventually, the two brothers meet again..

By looking at the raving reviews for "Submarino" it seemed that Thomas Vinterberg had yet another great cinematic experience up his sleeve. However, I am afraid that I am not one of the those throwing my hands in the air for "Submarino". My perception of what I saw, was a clichefilled movie with a stereotypical charactergallery that did not really grab me despite the tragic storyline. Nicks actions makes seldom sense and that goes for his brother as well. Its like Vinterberg tries "to hard" to show the gritty and ugly side of life in the wake of a tragedy, and what we get is something that feels a bit limp, overworked, seen and obvious. I was hoping for something else. I was not moved emotionally the way I was hoping for. Hence my disappointment.