Notizie

We come to Fantastic Fest for the weird. I've said it a few times before, and it is worth saying again. When you come to a festival such as this one, you see plenty of action movies, plenty of martial arts, sci-fi and of course, some horror. You also see some weird. In the weird column, I would like to enter Kenny Begins. It is quite simply the weirdest, most insane and possibly most deviously enjoyable films that I've seen here at Fantastic Fest. It's Swedish. And that's just the beginning. The film follows the converging stories of two misfits, a "galaxy hero" wannabe from a distant sector of the universe, who is trying to graduate starfighter school before the money runs out and his mom makes him become a hairdresser. On Earth, we meet Pontus, a gimpy, slow outcast who is picked on daily because he lives "on the other side of the tracks." When...

After the tepid response to his star-packed version of Isabel Allende's "The House of the Spirits" a few years back, Swedish director Bille August returns with "Jerusalem", a long, engrossing epic set mostly in his native country late in the 19th century.

Based on Nobel Prize-winning Selma Lagerlof's turn-of-the-century collection of stories, the First Look Pictures release was bypassed by the Academy for a best foreign film nomination, but it's destined to generate respectable business with art house audiences when it opens commercially in March. In a quirk typical of domestic distribution of international cinema, "Jerusalem" arrives when August's newest film, "Smilla's Sense of Snow", should still be in theaters.

Other than small roles played by Max von Sydow and Olympia Dukakis, the large and talented Scandinavian cast of "Jerusalem" is led by newcomers or veterans unfamiliar to domestic audiences. But those who fall under the film's spell will be rewarded with a romantic tragedy that illuminates an obscure bit of history with rich characterizations and moral conflicts.

The main thrust of the narrative concerns the unrealized love of Ingmar (Ulf Friberg), a young farmer whose inheritance is stolen, and his childhood sweetheart Gertrud (Maria Bonnevie), who falls under the spell of a charismatic preacher (Sven-Bertil Taube).

Standing in their way is Ingmar's insensitive sister Karin (Pernilla August), who survives a bad marriage with a drunken thief (he stole the money Ingmar needed to purchase the family property). When Karin leads many of the townspeople in embracing a strict religious movement, she turns the farm into a kind of commune.

Eventually, the religious rebels ignore family ties and make plans to emigrate to the Holy Land. Although he loves Gertrud, Ingmar marries a rich woman and gets the farm back. In one of many ironic developments, it's revealed too late that Gertrud had found the missing inheritance.

The story then follows the fates of Gertrud and Karin when they travel to Palestine and take up with a cult headed by a stern "model" Christian (Dukakis). More tragedy ensues, and the conclusion has a few genuine surprises.

JERUSALEM

First Look Pictures

Writer-director Bille August

Producer Ingrid Dahlberg

Based on the novel by Selma Lagerlof

Director of photography Jorgen Persson

Production designer Anna Asp

Costume designer Ann-Margret Fyregard

Music Stefan Nilsson

Editor Janus Billeskov-Jansen

Color/stereo

Cast:

Ingmar Ulf Friberg

Gertrud Maria Bonnevie

Karin Pernilla August

Tim Reine Brynolfsson

Barbro Lena Endre

Gabriel Jan Mybrand

Hellgum Sven-Bertil Taube

Running time -- 166 minutes

MPAA rating: PG-13...