Directed by:
Erik ClausenScreenplay:
Erik ClausenCinematography:
Rasmus VidebækComposer:
Kim LarsenCast:
Jesper Asholt, Ditte Gråbøl, Elith Nulle Nykjær, Anders Hove, Yüksel Akdag, Erik Clausen, Sami Darr, Pil Egholm, Trine Juul-Andersen, Maria Rossing (more)Plots(1)
John is doing time in prison. He's a criminal from a Copenhagen slum neighborhood – a child of the ghetto. He's a survivor and he is getting old - too old for the criminal life. But he's also unrealistic. So, even though he's over fifty, he still sports a black, leather jacket and jeans, thick-soled shoes and an Elvis hair-do. He has been double-crossed by drug dealers who let him take the fall – and a long prison sentence - after the police bust a shipment of hash. He has a family with which he keeps little contact, but now his son is getting married. Prison rules allow him to attend the wedding, escorted by a prison officer.
We follow John and the prison guard during the course of the wedding day – a day that changes both their lives. It soon becomes apparent that, besides attending the wedding, John has other scores to settle that he doesn't want the guard finding out about. The prison officer is a younger, chubby "country boy" – apparently the essence of normality. But as the film progresses, he reveals his paranoia, his frustrations and his efforts to maintain an ideal, middle-class, family existence - by participating in organized crime. He conveys messages from the inmates to their criminal buddies on the outside and organizes the drug trade inside. No one suspects a decent fellow like him.
In the course of the movie both men's pasts unfold. Most of the action takes place in John's childhood neighborhood. Vesterbro is an old, working-class neighborhood and former slum that's been renovated and populated by young people. Time has clearly passed John by. In the course of the wedding we see John trying to play the father to a son who he has never really accepted, and the emotional confrontation shakes him up. After the wedding he looks up an old girlfriend – the prostitute Lisbeth – and promises his prison-guard escort Lisbeth's favors. But things go far from planned; Lisbeth is more interested in working for the guard then starting up again with John.
After visiting Lisbeth, John succeeds in ditching the guard and returns to Lisbeth, demanding an explanation. This leads to a confrontation where Lisbeth tells him it was she who had gotten him busted and that she did it for his own good, convinced that he'd never survive on the street. She ridicules him because he's impotent, causing him to fly into a rage and attack her. She falls down, hitting her head on the radiator. John flees, thinking she's dead. But, having nowhere to go, he returns to the prison where the officer is waiting for him. Such is the plot of the film - told in broad strokes. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Cast
Jesper Asholt
Denmark
Best movies:
The Art of Crying (2006)
Nothing's All Bad (2010)
Mifune's Last Song (1999)
Ditte Gråbøl
Denmark
Best movies:
Accused (2005)
Deep Water (1999) (TV movie)
Move Me (2003)
Elith Nulle Nykjær
Denmark
Best movies:
Oldboys (2009)
People Get Eaten (2015)
Oneway-Ticket to Korsør (2008)
Anders Hove
Denmark
Best movies:
The Kingdom (1994) (series)
The Purity of Vengeance (2018)
Mifune's Last Song (1999)
Yüksel Akdag
Turkey
Best movies:
Temporary Release (2007)
Erik Clausen
Denmark
Best movies:
Villa paranoia (2004)
People Get Eaten (2015)
Temporary Release (2007)
Sami Darr
Denmark
Best movies:
Those Who Kill - Shadow of the Past (2011)
From Paris with Love (2010)
Temporary Release (2007)
Pil Egholm
Best movies:
People Get Eaten (2015)
Temporary Release (2007)
Trine Juul-Andersen
Best movies:
Temporary Release (2007)
Detective Downs (2013)
Maria Rossing
Denmark
Best movies:
A Conspiracy of Faith (2016)
All Inclusive (2014)
Temporary Release (2007)
Troels Thorsen
Best movies:
The Hunt (2012)
Temporary Release (2007)
Brian Nielsen
Best movies:
Temporary Release (2007)
The Collector (2004)
Rolf Rasmussen
Best movies:
Just Another Love Story (2007)
Those Who Kill - Shadow of the Past (2011)
Temporary Release (2007)
Stanislav Sevcik
Denmark
Best movies:
Angels in Fast Motion (2005)
Temporary Release (2007)
The Candidate (2008)
Susanne Oldenburg Gotthelff
Best movies:
Italian for Beginners (2000)
Temporary Release (2007)
Joachim Solberg
Denmark
Best movies:
Temporary Release (2007)
Jesper Rosenberg Antonsen
Denmark
Best movies:
Temporary Release (2007)
Michael Larsen
Denmark
Best movies:
Aftermath (2004)
Accused (2005)
Clash of Egos (2006)
Kadhim Faraj
Iraq
Best movies:
Villa paranoia (2004)
Temporary Release (2007)
Island of Lost Souls (2007)