The Bench (2000)

A freebie film off the Internet. Part of a trilogy directed by Per Fly portraying the upper, middle, and under strata's of Danish society. I saw The Inheritance - the upper strata part – back in May 2008; it was – like this is – competent Sunday evening TV drama (more BBC2 than 1) Acceptable misery entertainment.Jesper Christensen as street bench alkie Kai gives good grumpy and gruff; actually, its more than grumpy and gruff, its downright sh-tty horrible. All that swigging and puking up, and stinking beer sweat – not attractive; disillusioned hopeless weary woeness is pitched the right side of ugly: Kai is gonna drink himself to death – and you can all fcuk off! I work with park bench alkies; they swing erratically from cynical self-loathing to sentimental self-pity on a daily basis; depends on what state of boozy obliteration they're in or out of – so this gritty portrayal is pretty good as far as pretty bad is concerned. The drunken slide into down and out destitution is relentless, becomes inevitable.Problem with this film is it doesn't have the guts to stay still - and hopeless – with the drunks on the park bench. It wants to move into movie melodrama all too readily. The whole father/daughter redemption story is too neatly plotted and packaged to be street credible "realism". Too much of what happens gets to feel conveniently contrived so as to forward the narrative as conventional cinematic drama, while running away - scared – smack into a redemptive "dying in daughters arms" ending. This guy Kai has done 19 years of alcohol abuse. He deserted – after beating her up – his wife and little daughter. He's an ugly self loathing ass-hole. He doesn't deserve redemptive endings. Get real! I would have dropped all the daughter drama. Stay on the bench. Get right in the "earth ass-hole" these bench alkies are stuck in. And mine their assholes for worms of dirty gold. But i suppose to do that you'd need Samuel Beckett writing the screenplay.This film wants to leave the ass-hole its poking into before it gets too disgustingly sh-tty. We're too amused by distractions like "jazz popped trumpet music" and an eccentric character who seems to have wandered in lost from a Mike Leigh film "overeaten of Soren Kierkegaard" (to quote a Danish reviewer)

The movie is worth watching due to the acting of Jesper Christensen, who was rewarded greatly afterwards for his performance. Also smaller parts by Jens Albinus and Lars Brygmann are worth noticing.The film lacks the simple ingredient: coherence, which is partially down to the terrible acting by Stine Holm Joensen (the daughter). And due her importance to the story this ruins a lot, especially the credibility of her character. She also coincidentally moves in right next to her alcoholic father whom she hasn't seen for 19 years which doesn't exactly give the start of the film nor the storyline a lot of credibility either. The development of the alcoholic Kaj might seem realistic from an objective point of view but because the actions preceding this development are non effectual you lose faith in the story. It is the sudden reoccurring of his daughter that ruins his daily routines and makes him act out of nature. Everything that happens to him throughout the movie is down to his daughter and grandson, the transition between father and daughter is therefore very important but unfortunately Stine Holm Joensen isn't convincing. The story has potential and could have been very great, especially considering the simplicity and originality of the film. BUT as successful an approach this might seem it also harms the film because it adds pressure and emphasis on the storyline and the acting, which the film simply isn't strong enough to carry. I actually laughed more than I was moved (mostly down to some really funny and clever lines) but I wasn't moved at times when I was supposed to. I didn't like the music of the film either. The red thread of it was confusing; Should one; cry, laugh, be excited? The film is recommendable of course - Not everyone would share my critical views, and the amazing acting, after all, from Jesper Christensen is worth watching. Too many mistakes though (acting, story/plot)in important scenes and sequences is enough to ruin it, for me at least. 5 1/2 out of 10

I have now seen this film two or three times and am very impressed with the way it portrays life for a group of society's loser and how the main character in the film is forced to pull himself together and face the consequences of his past - something he just manages to do before his demise.Bænken is the first of a trilogy of film by director Per Fly. The second was " Arven" ( The inheritance )which was equally impressive but entirely different.The third and final film is called " Drabet" ( The Murder ) and is due for release next year . I'm looking forward to it.

The most stunishing thing about this movie is the acting of the drunk guy. Several times during the movie I pondered whether they had brought in a real drunk, or if it really was an actor? All his moves, the way i talked etc. were so real.The story as far as I recall it, is about a drunk guy on dole, with no future. Suddenly he meets a person which makes his internal flame of live rise and burst.We as spectators get a view of how it is having no future, no family and nothing to do. Its a story without any special effects or explosions (not even a telly which is thrown out of the window from the second floor explode upon impact with the sidewalk!) But still, the story is so much better than of most multi-billion dollar movies from Hollywood.