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A Hijacking Reviewed by Mark Adams


A tense and intricately shot drama, writer/director Tobias Lindholm’s solo debut feature is a powerful and intensely watchable film as it tackles the high-pressure negotiations over a hijacked ship, dwelling not just on the captives but also the team back home who are trying to secure their release. The film is a masterful exercise in building tension, never


resorting to quick dramatic tricks and keeping the tone appropriately serious as the clock keeps on ticking. A Hijacking (Kapringen) also reinforces the current


The Impossible Reviewed by Allan Hunter


An extraordinary account of true events from the 2004 tsu- nami, The Impossible cannot fail to move even the hardest heart. Bravura film-making captures a visceral, pulse-racing sense of the chaos and carnage when nature was unleashed. Fearless, committed performances convey an authentic sense of the appalling human suffering that resulted. The combination is overwhelming in what becomes a har-


rowing celebration of the human spirit and the indomitable will to survive. Critical acclaim and the word of mouth gen- erated by such a raw emotional experience should translate into hefty theatrical returns around the world. Five years after The Orphanage, director Juan Antonio


Bayona returns with a film that is very different but just as atmospheric and haunting. When Maria (Naomi Watts), Henry (Ewan McGregor) and their three sons arrive at Khao Lak, Thailand on December 24, 2004 it feels like a paradise on earth. Golden beaches, clear waters and cloudless skies promise the Christmas holiday of a lifetime. The fact that we know what is about to happen to them marks their happi- ness with a palpable dread. The tsunami duly hits and it feels distressingly real as


buildings are swept away and individuals become like rag dolls pulled by the currents, twisting limbs and smashing bones. Lives are lost in the blink of an eye. Bayona follows Maria and son Lucas (Tom Holland) as they are swallowed up and spat out, bloodied and broken. Surviving the first wave of the tsunami is just the first of many struggles as mother and son desperately cling to the promise of life and the futile hope that Henry and the other boys Simon (Oaklee Pendergast) and Thomas (Samuel Joslin) are still alive. What happens next is utterly compelling, edge-of-the-seat


drama that also provides a sense of who these people are. Even in her darkest hour, the badly injured Maria’s instinct is to help others and extend a hand of compassion. The Impossible is flawless in its use of visual effects, make-


up and production design, creating the maximum emotional impact from the smallest detail of a wound to the bigger pic- ture of devastation as far as the eye can see. Watts shows an immense physical commitment and


makes Maria a noble, heroic figure. McGregor has rarely been better than in one key scene where all the bottled-up emotions of his ordeal pour out. The child performers are uncanny and there is an especially terrific performance from Holland as the resourceful, levelheaded Lucas, who is terri- fied but tenacious in the face of an unspeakable ordeal.


September 23-25, 2012 Screen International at the Zurich Film Festival 7 n


strength of Scandinavian drama. Lindholm wrote for the award-winning Danish TV series Borgen, as well as scripting Thomas Vinterberg’s Cannes film The Hunt, while with Michael Noer he co-directed (and co-scripted) the tough 2010 prison drama R (aka R: Hit First, Hit Hardest). In fact Lindholm goes to great efforts to play down the


GALA PREMIERES


Sp-US. 2012. 107mins Director Juan Antonio Bayona Production companies ApachesEntertainment, TelecincoCinema International sales SummitEntertainment, www.summit-ent.com Producers Belen Atienza, Alvaro Augustin,Enrique Lopez-Lavigne, Ghislain Barrois, JaimeOrtiz de Artinano Executive producers Sandra Hermida, Javier Ugarte Screenplay Sergio G Sanchez CinematographyOscar Faura EditorsElena Ruiz, Bernat Vilaplana Production designer EugenioCaballero Music Fernando Velazquez Main castNaomi Watts, Ewan McGregor,Tom Holland, Samuel Joslin, GeraldineChaplin,Oaklee Pendergast


more harrowing aspects of the story. The film opens with simple sequences of the ship’s cook Mikkel (Pilou Asbaek) going about his work and talking to his wife and daughter, but never actually shows the hijacking of the Rozen, a cargo ship in the Indian Ocean, instead skipping forward two days to see CEO Peter (Soren Malling) first discover his compa- ny’s vessel has been taken. Peter sees himself as a shrewd negotiator — we know this


as a few hours before he receives the call he haggles with a Japanese businessman to drive down a price — and decides to ignore the advice of the expert (real-life maritime security professional Gary Skjoldmose Porter) who has been brought in to help handle the delicate negotiations. Over the coming weeks Peter has to haggle with transla-


tor Omar (Abdihakin Asgar), while on board Mikkel and his fellow shipmates have to try to deal with increasingly unpleasant circumstances as they are locked below deck and start to lose hope that they will ever escape alive. The film deftly balances the twin locations of the stifling,


often-claustrophobic, ship alongside the plush Danish offices of the shipping company. While the executives wear suits and ties as they attempt to force a deal, the crew are grim, sweaty and constantly fearing for the worst. Asbaek (who also starred in R) is moving and memorable


as the genial chef whose sanity slowly starts to crack under pressure, while equally fine is Malling as the shrewd, calm and professional businessman who feels he must take responsibility for the situation, but is not fully prepared for haggling over men’s lives.


INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM — COMPETITION


Den. 2012. 103mins Director/screenplay TobiasLindholm Production company Nordisk International sales TrustNordisk, www. trustnordisk.com ProducersTomas Radoor, RenéEzra Cinematography MagnusNordenhof Joenck Editor AdamNielsen Production designer Thomas Greve Music Hildur Gudnadottir Main cast Soren Malling, Pilou Asbaek, Dar Salim, Roland Moller, Gary SkjoldmosePorter, Abdihakin Asgar


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