''Mifune'' ( da, Mifunes sidste sang, "Mifune's Last Song") is a 1999
romantic comedy
Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...
film, it is the third film to be made according to the
Dogme 95
Dogme 95 is a 1995 avant-garde filmmaking movement founded by the Danish directors Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg, who created the "Dogme 95 Manifesto" and the "Vows of Chastity" ( da, kyskhedsløfter). These were rules to create films ...
group rules. It was directed by
Søren Kragh-Jacobsen
Søren Kragh-Jacobsen (; born 2 March 1947, in Copenhagen) is a Danish film director, musician, and songwriter. He was one of the founders and practitioners of the Dogme95 project, for creating films without artificial technology or techniques.
...
. The film was a great success in Denmark and an international blockbuster, ranked among the ten best-selling Danish films worldwide.
It was produced by
Nimbus Film
Nimbus Film is Denmark's third largest film production company.
Nimbus Film has to date produced more than 30 feature films and many shorts and documentaries.
Of their more known feature films are the Dogme 95 movies ''The Celebration'' (1998, ...
.
At the
49th Berlin International Film Festival, the film won the
Silver Bear – Special Jury Prize and
Iben Hjejle
Iben Hjejle (22 March 1971) is a Danish actress, notable for starring in the Stephen Frears film '' High Fidelity'' (2000). In Denmark, she is perhaps best known for appearing in the Danish television sitcom '' Langt fra Las Vegas'' (''Far from ...
won an Honourable Mention.
Plot
Kresten had moved from his parents' farm on
Lolland
Lolland (; formerly spelled ''Laaland'', literally "low land") is the fourth largest island of Denmark, with an area of . Located in the Baltic Sea, it is part of Region Sjælland (Region Zealand). As of 1 January 2022, it has 57,618 inhabitant ...
, an out-of-the-way small Danish island, to
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
to pursue his working career. When his father dies, he has to move back to the farm, where nothing much has happened since he left. He places an ad in the local newspaper to get help running the farm and taking care of his brother. The prostitute Liva, who is running away from harassing telephone calls, takes the job. But running away from one's past isn't easy.
Cast
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Iben Hjejle
Iben Hjejle (22 March 1971) is a Danish actress, notable for starring in the Stephen Frears film '' High Fidelity'' (2000). In Denmark, she is perhaps best known for appearing in the Danish television sitcom '' Langt fra Las Vegas'' (''Far from ...
as Liva
*
Anders W. Berthelsen
Anders W. Berthelsen (born 28 September 1969) is a Danish actor. He has appeared in more than 40 films and television shows since 1994.
Selected filmography
References
External links
*
1969 births
Living people
Danish male film act ...
as Kresten
*
Jesper Asholt
*
Emil Tarding
*
Anders Hove
*
Sofie Gråbøl
Sofie Gråbøl (; born 30 July 1968) is a Danish actress. She has starred in a number of films, with her breakthrough role in the 1986 Danish film '' Early Spring'', directed by Astrid Henning-Jensen, playing the lead role in the film version of T ...
*
Paprika Steen
Kirstine "Paprika" Steen (born 3 November 1964) is a Danish actress and director best known for her performances in Dogme 95 films ''Festen'', ''The Idiots'', Mifune, and ''Open Hearts''. Steen was the first Danish actress since Karin Nellemose ...
*
*
Ellen Hillingsø
Ellen Gunilla Hillingsø (born 9 March 1967) is a Danish actress who is known primarily for her work in films. She is also a voice actress, narrating audio books.
Early life
Ellen Gunilla Hillingsø was born on 9 March 1967 in Copenhagen to Kje ...
*
Sidse Babett Knudsen
Sidse Babett Knudsen (; born 22 November 1968) is a Danish actress who works in theatre, television, and film. Knudsen made her screen debut in the 1997 improvisational comedy '' Let's Get Lost'', for which she received both the Robert and Bodi ...
*
*
Søren Malling
Søren Dyrberg Malling (; born 3 February 1964) is a Danish actor.
Career
Raised in Kjellerup, Malling trained at Skuespillerskolen at Odense Teater in 1992. He is best known for his role as Inspector Jan Meyer in the Danish TV crime thriller ...
*
*
*
*
Klaus Bondam
Klaus Bondam (born 19 November 1963, in Aakirkeby) is a Danish actor and politician.
Acting career
Bondam has been the manager two theatres, (1996–2003) and Folketeatret (2003–2005), and been administrative manager of Mungo Park thea ...
*
Sofie Stougaard
Sofie Stougaard (born 5 November 1966 in Svaneke) is a Danish actress who has had roles in, among other movies, '' Mifune's Last Song'', and the Danish sitcom ''Langt fra Las Vegas''. She has also participated in the Danish version of Dancing wit ...
Title
The title of the film is a reference to recently deceased
Toshiro Mifune
was a Japanese actor who appeared in over 150 feature films. He is best known for his 16-film collaboration (1948–1965) with Akira Kurosawa in such works as ''Rashomon'', ''Seven Samurai'', ''The Hidden Fortress'', ''Throne of Blood'', and '' ...
(1920–1997), prolific Japanese film actor whose roles included that of Kikuchiyo, one of
Akira Kurosawa
was a Japanese filmmaker and painter who directed thirty films in a career spanning over five decades. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. Kurosawa displayed a bold, dyna ...
's ''
Seven Samurai
is a 1954 Japanese epic samurai drama film co-written, edited, and directed by Akira Kurosawa. The story takes place in 1586 during the Sengoku period of Japanese history. It follows the story of a village of desperate farmers who hire seven ...
''. Mifune's look and demeanor is imitated by Kirsten in a terrifying and/or delighting entertainment for his brother Rud. It also refers to
Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson
Bjørnstjerne Martinius Bjørnson ( , ; 8 December 1832 – 26 April 1910) was a Norwegian writer who received the 1903 Nobel Prize in Literature "as a tribute to his noble, magnificent and versatile poetry, which has always been distinguished ...
's poem ''Sidste Sang'' (1870).
Partial English translation of Bjørnson's poem
/ref>
Confession
The "confession" is an idea adapted by Thomas Vinterberg
Thomas Vinterberg (; born 19 May 1969) is a Danish film director who, along with Lars von Trier, co-founded the Dogme 95 movement in filmmaking, which established rules for simplifying movie production. He is best known for the films ''The Celeb ...
in the first Dogme 95 film: Make a confession if elements of the film do not comply with the strict interpretation of the Dogme-rules. It is written from the director's point of view.
As one of the DOGME 95 brethren and co-signatory of the Vow of Chastity I feel moved to confess to the following transgressions of the aforesaid Vow during the production of Dogme 3 – Mifune. Please note that the film has been approved as a Dogme work, as only one genuine breach of the rules has actually taken place. The rest may be regarded as moral breaches.
* I confess to having made one take with a black drape covering a window. This is not only the addition of a property, but must also be regarded as a kind of lighting arrangement.
* I confess to moving furniture and fittings around the house.
* I confess to having taken with me a number of albums of my favourite comic book series as a youth, ''Linda & Valentin'' (''Valérian and Laureline
''Valérian and Laureline'' (french: Valérian et Laureline), also known as ''Valérian: Spatio-Temporal Agent'' (french: Valérian, agent spatio-temporel) or just ''Valérian'', is a French science fiction comics series, created by writer Pie ...
'').
* I confess to helping to chase the neighbour's free-range hens across our location and including them in the film.
* I confess that I brought a photographic image from an old lady from the area and hung it in a prominent position in one scene: not as part of the plot, but more as a selfish, spontaneous, pleasureable whim.
* I confess to borrowing a hydraulic platform from a painter, which we used for the only two bird's-eye overview shots in the film.
* I do solemnly declare that in my presence the remainder of Dogme 3 – Mifune was produced in accordance with the vow of chastity.
* I also point out that the film has been approved by DOGME 95 as a Dogme film, as in real terms no more than a single breach of the rules has been committed. The rest may be regarded as moral transgressions.
See also
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References
External links
*
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*
{{Authority control
1999 films
Danish romantic comedy films
1990s Danish-language films
Dogme 95 films
Films directed by Søren Kragh-Jacobsen
Films with screenplays by Anders Thomas Jensen
Nimbus Film films
Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize winners
Sony Pictures Classics films