After the Wedding

This is simply the best film yet of 2007. What a nice treat to see a Danish film on the screens of Toronto outside of a film festival.

Director Susanne Bier takes us on a journey from India to Denmark, from an orphanage to an opulent mansion, and through the perils of single-dom, marriage, life and death.

The movies runs a full two hours, but you won't want to blink for fear of missing something.

While not a thriller in the conventional sense, this is very much an edge-of-your-seat movie in emotional terms.

It is not a drippy-chick flick, nor a blockbuster, its a thinking movie, but with movement, relationships, tension (sexual and otherwise) that brings it a special life all its own.

Mads Mikkelsen is superb as Jacob, a Danish orphange worker/manager in India who clearly has a deep passion for the kids and the cause.....but also carries a chip on his shoulder for reasons initially unclear.

Soon, Jacob finds himself back in Denmark for the first time in twenty years to woo a potential donor to his orphanage.

He is not overly happy to be 'home'......nor thrilled by the prospect of padding the ego of a wealthy business man he figures has only brought him here to enjoy seeing someone plead for his money.

Rolf Lassgard plays the business man in question, and brings a strange, emotional, but very believeable emotion to the part. His character, Jorgen is alternately benevolent and generous, manipulative and secretive and has a pension for anger, especially after too much to drink.

These two actors play off each other beautifully, engaging you in their stories, and wondering why and how those two lives have come together......

Brier teases us with the reason, but it doesn't become clear till almost 3/4 of the way through this sensational movie, and even then......the tension only climbs.

A remarkable movie, worth 9/10 and my highest recommendation.

After the Wedding is now playing at Toronto's Cumberland cinema.