Mifune is in my top five movies. I have probably watched this movie over three hundred times, and every time I am delighted by a small detail: the camera angle, the dialog, the consistency, the absolutely beautiful setting. The script/story is full of a vibrancy and living in a such a simple and classy way that you can't help but smile and believe in the immortality of these characters throughout human time, to be played out over and over again. And thus revealing the truth of the matter of love. Iben Hjejle, who plays Liva, is gorgeous and natural, an amazing amazing actress. She shines like the sun because she is allowed to. You can see she was allowed to "play" this character as she felt, and with heart. Anders Berthelsen, who plays Kresten, really absorbs the character, becoming this man who has survived the farm and made it to the top of monetary success, but finds love in the land and in Liva, as well as his brother Rud. Rud, played by Jesper Asholt, has to be the secret genius of this film. Every moment of every shot he is the gentle loving giant child. One actor who is going to be a huge success is Emil Tarding, who plays Liva's little brother Bjarke. What a smart clever funny young man. They all shine because of the writing, first and foremost, and because of the Dogma rules, second. Dogma is a revolution, pure, true, allowing movement and flow, like a mountain river in comparison to a polluted ditch, making it hard to watch our American 100 million dollar movies with any respect. Mifune is personal. It is obvious there was a small crew. One gaffer for example, so that it's as if you are there, the only one, inside the story, watching like a fly on the wall, enjoying the struggle through the confusion of life, as everyone. A massive crew of hundreds disturbs the acting, disturbs the vibe, becomes the movie, rather then the film being the focus. Somehow these larger and larger films just become money vampires for people to fill their bank accounts, rather then go to make something beautiful, as this. Anyway, one can see in watching this film how a movie should really "feel." You can understand that the actors felt comfortable and the whole thing came very naturally for them, rather then forced. One can immediately understand that the director Soren K. Jacobson was excited and felt the artist, allowing himself the opportunity to touch base with why we make films in the first place, art. When I get sick of Hollywood films (every other day) I watch Mifune and feel refreshed and I believe in the poetry of film once again. I can believe that a simple story is capable of being entertainment and moving, rather then great big complicated stories that consume the characters, and miss the mark.
Review of Mifune
