Michael Lown
BartoAs It Is In Heaven... still
March 25th 2008 08:56
For all the Hollywood blockbusters that Australian audiences lap up over the years and all the ‘worthy’ films poking our current global crises (there are too many to highlight one) with a stick, it is a Swedish movie that holds a record no others have come near. As It Is In Heaven has entered its 69th record week at the Hayden Orpheum in Cremorne, Sydney. It is the longest running film in the country and recently passed the $1 million mark in gross box office at this cinema.
Which begs the question, why?
For some time I was strangely averse to joining the continuing steady stream to check this flick out. Something about the manic wide eyed devotion of the friends who had told me I must see it had the opposite effect. That level of devotion, and the movie they described, made the whole thing sound corny as hell. Perhaps more disturbingly, many of these people were also repeat offenders. I had flashbacks to all those women proudly claiming to have paid to see Titanic over ten times, something I am sure they would all like to forget.
Daniel Daréus (Michael Nyqvist), a world renowned conductor, suffers a heart attack and is told his condition remains weak. In order to recover he goes to live in the village where he was bullied through his childhood. The locals, awestruck by his celebrity, convince him to coach the church choir. It’s not long before he is opening their lives to the possibility of music, and they in turn open his life to the possibility of love.
In the hands of Hollywood what would follow is the kind of predictable saccharine crap proudly brought to you by the sequel of Mr Holland’s Opus (watch this shuddering, horrified space, because you all no that is not out of the question).
I have decided the key to this movie’s success is the way it skates around the schmaltz only occasionally dipping its toe in. The various conundrums facing members of the choir are not predictable, but honest and highly possible. One woman is in an abusive relationship which cannot be neatly solved, while another struggles to find warmth in her husband who is also the local minister. Darius’ romance with sweet natured Lena (played quite brilliantly by Frida Hallgren) is littered with obstacles, but instead of a series of contrived barriers (like writing an article about trying to lose a guy in 10 days, or discovering your lover is a spy), the problems reside within the characters and their own emotional limitations.
The ending is a master class in delivering satisfaction and the requisite uplift, while encasing it with a light coating of regret and sadness. Director Kay Pollack, who turns 70 this year, has done marvels with a strong script.
My biggest complaint is that the whole thing is too long. It drags into something nearing repetition in the back third. If that is my biggest complaint, then what are my others? Just one – I don’t get it. At the risk of sounding like a spoilsport, while I enjoyed this film and certainly see its merits, I cannot for a second imagine what is driving the devotion of the return viewers. Believe me, there are still plenty of them. At the recent screening I went to it was a full house, and at the end some of them seemed to be singing along (people probably did that at the end of Titanic as well).
I won’t be going back, but nor am I going to attempt to dissuade others from seeing it. If you’re interested in saving money, then you can always rent it. On the other hand, the soundtrack can benefit from a cinema delivery to give it that extra oomph. I also suspect that seeing it while surrounded by devotees can help with the uplift.
Which begs the question, why?
For some time I was strangely averse to joining the continuing steady stream to check this flick out. Something about the manic wide eyed devotion of the friends who had told me I must see it had the opposite effect. That level of devotion, and the movie they described, made the whole thing sound corny as hell. Perhaps more disturbingly, many of these people were also repeat offenders. I had flashbacks to all those women proudly claiming to have paid to see Titanic over ten times, something I am sure they would all like to forget.
Daniel Daréus (Michael Nyqvist), a world renowned conductor, suffers a heart attack and is told his condition remains weak. In order to recover he goes to live in the village where he was bullied through his childhood. The locals, awestruck by his celebrity, convince him to coach the church choir. It’s not long before he is opening their lives to the possibility of music, and they in turn open his life to the possibility of love.
In the hands of Hollywood what would follow is the kind of predictable saccharine crap proudly brought to you by the sequel of Mr Holland’s Opus (watch this shuddering, horrified space, because you all no that is not out of the question).
I have decided the key to this movie’s success is the way it skates around the schmaltz only occasionally dipping its toe in. The various conundrums facing members of the choir are not predictable, but honest and highly possible. One woman is in an abusive relationship which cannot be neatly solved, while another struggles to find warmth in her husband who is also the local minister. Darius’ romance with sweet natured Lena (played quite brilliantly by Frida Hallgren) is littered with obstacles, but instead of a series of contrived barriers (like writing an article about trying to lose a guy in 10 days, or discovering your lover is a spy), the problems reside within the characters and their own emotional limitations.
The ending is a master class in delivering satisfaction and the requisite uplift, while encasing it with a light coating of regret and sadness. Director Kay Pollack, who turns 70 this year, has done marvels with a strong script.
My biggest complaint is that the whole thing is too long. It drags into something nearing repetition in the back third. If that is my biggest complaint, then what are my others? Just one – I don’t get it. At the risk of sounding like a spoilsport, while I enjoyed this film and certainly see its merits, I cannot for a second imagine what is driving the devotion of the return viewers. Believe me, there are still plenty of them. At the recent screening I went to it was a full house, and at the end some of them seemed to be singing along (people probably did that at the end of Titanic as well).
I won’t be going back, but nor am I going to attempt to dissuade others from seeing it. If you’re interested in saving money, then you can always rent it. On the other hand, the soundtrack can benefit from a cinema delivery to give it that extra oomph. I also suspect that seeing it while surrounded by devotees can help with the uplift.
| 103 |
| Vote |
Subscribe to this blog
