Three Times Three Times
Sep
03
2006

TIFF Report: The Art of Crying Review

Posted by Todd Brown at 3:57pm.

Posted in Film & DVD Reviews , Comedy, Drama, Continental Europe & Russia, Toronto Film Festival 2006.

artofcrying.jpg

[TIFF info page here]

Danish black comedy The Art of Crying has been a hotly anticipated film around these parts, the film’s pitch of a young boy killing village residents to provide his father the chance to eulogize them ringing a darkly comic bell but, unfortunately the film does not live up to expectations on any level. The Art of Crying simply does not know what sort of film it wants to be and, more importantly, what sort of film it should be.

The film revolves around Allan, an eleven year old boy growing up in rural Jutland in the 1970’s. With his older brother Asger away at school Allan lives at home with his mother, his milkman father and middle sister Sanne. It should be a good environment for a boy to grow up in but for one thing, the father he loves is prone to fits of dramatic depression, frequently breaking into crying fits and threatening to kill himself, forcing the family to find ways of soothing his fragile spirit or risk losing him. When Allen realizes that the thing that makes his father happiest is to deliver eulogies he sets out to find – or create – opportunities for him to do just that.

This is the film as presented in the press materials and on that level it certainly seems fertile ground for morbid black comedy, an effect the film certainly reaches for, particularly in the early going. But The Art of Crying also wants to be considerably more than that, and this is where things break down, and break down badly. Serving the typical Danish urge for realism the film openly acknowledges – and does so very early – that Allan’s father has some sort of mental illness and, moreso, that he is molesting his fourteen year old daughter Sanne, who uses sex to soothe her father’s depressive outbursts. This is a story about children manipulated into accommodating their father’s debased urges, manipulated into degrading situations by his dramatics. And, to put it succinctly, what the hell is this film – or any film – doing trying to play child abuse for comedy, or even against a comic backdrop? At its best this is simply horribly misguided, at worst it is utterly repugnant.

While the film does seem to recognize its error at about the half way mark, with Allan slowly realizing that his father is destroying their family, it is far too late at this point, the damage already done. Time that should have been spent establishing characters has been wasted on the attempts at absurdist comedy and what we’re left with are shallow characters portrayed as little more than caricatures and a script that skims weakly over the surface of the serious issues it attempts to raise.

The Art of Crying is simply a failure. It is misguided in approach, poorly written, plagued by single note performances from most of the key cast, not funny in the comic elements, shallow in the dramatic, and poorly paced. Clocking in under two hours it feels double that. Your time is better spent elsewhere.

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Reader Comments

  1. Roger 09/10/2006 @ 12:55am

    I could not disagree with you more. Just came back from the premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. The audience loved it as did I. Sure it was not a genre movie, but genuine family experience includes all dramas, horrors and comedies. It was incredibly moving and executed with impressive virtuosity for a first time director. Congratulations Peter Schønau Fog for tackling such a complex story with such an incredibly deft touch.

  2. Geoff 09/10/2006 @ 1:19am

    I don’t want the review above to dissuade audiences.

    This is one of my favorite films at Toronto, and a film I’ll long remember.

    This film strikes a tremendous balance of macabre, humor and acute emotional perception with inspired casting and beautiful direction.

    Please seek it out. Don’t let this reviewer’s emotional response unfairly malign a piece of filmmaking that suceeds on so many levels.

  3. Todd 09/10/2006 @ 3:01pm

    I didn’t dislike the film because it wasn’t genre, Roger, I disliked it because it wanted to poke fun of a situation that shouldn’t be poked fun of while simultaneously asking you to invest in the scenario and take it seriously. I didn’t find that fusion worked at all. And the father, in particular, I thought was incredibly under written and poorly performed as little more than a sobbing buffoon. Rather than being insightful it took what should and could have been a complex challenging character and reduced him to a single note.

  4. Tanja 09/15/2006 @ 10:43am

    I think ur totally wrong - his attentions are completely opposite to what you think - cause he uses this sarcastic humor to show what can really go on without any notising! The story by Erling Jepsen is also very critical towards the small societies who have their own rules and are left out from larger connections. He uses things who are so daily and normal to a lot of people and show us what actually hides underneath the harmony.. I think this is a story that reveals a lot of truth and it couldn’t have been shown better!

  5. Kelly 09/15/2006 @ 12:54pm

    I also just came back from the Toronto film festival and saw this film. I loved it! It sparked much debate between my friends and I - about truth, communication (or lack there of), and what a family is. The acting was superb, especially the young lad (this was his first film role). An incredible film that will stay in my head for a long long time.

  6. Ruth 09/15/2006 @ 2:12pm

    I just Wonder - did Todd actually se the film? As far as I know the worldpremiere was septemper 8 .

  7. Todd Brown 09/16/2006 @ 9:45am

    Of course I saw the film. There were press screenings the week before the festival.

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