A visual wonder from Denmark, although, as is often the case with visually evocative European films, the storytelling leaves something to be desired. WINTER BROTHERS (VINTERBRODRE; 2017) is a mood piece, done up in the DOGTOOTH-inspired deadpan manner that’s become so trendy in post-00 arthouse filmmaking.
Taking place during an especially snowy winter, it focuses on two brothers who work in a limestone mine: the straight-laced Johan and the quirky Emil. Both are besotted with their sexy neighbor Anna, the only woman residing in the area, but of course it’s Johan who ultimately scores with her. She does, however, figure heavily in Emil’s daydreams, which also include an imaginary British drill sergeant who instructs him on how to use a very real semi-assault rifle Emil has in his possession.
The brothers’ activities include whipping their penises out while working and stealing chemicals, from which Emil makes liquor that he sells to his co-workers. Emil also steals Anna’s panties by reaching through her bedroom window, and then sniffs them in the surrounding forest.
One day Emil is called to a meeting with his boss, who informs him that a co-worker is deathly ill due to Emil’s hooch. Emil is forced to swill a bottle of his own homemade liquor and fired, which inspires an elaborate hallucination in which he tells Linda of his desire to eat her.
It seems the already-unstable Emil is set to go completely over the edge, and possibly make use of his rifle. A nasty fight occurs between the two brothers in which Emil is briefly knocked unconscious. Most impactful at all is a new chemical formula Emil creates that can turn his alcoholic mixes dark colored.
If all this sounds intense, be advised that the film is actually anything but. Dramatically it’s quite distant, with the camera often set up far from the action (the climactic fight scene, for instance, is viewed from outside a window looking in), and proceeds in a succession of largely self-contained sketches that don’t always connect.
It certainly looks good. The scenes in the mine, lit only by wavering flashlight beams, are especially striking, although it’s not always easy to make out what exactly is happening. For that matter, much of the film overall is too enigmatic for its own good, the ending in particular, which can be interpreted in any number of ways, none of them satisfying.
Vital Statistics
WINTER BROTHERS (VINTERBRODRE)
Masterplan Pictures/Join Motion Pictures/New Danish Screen
Director: Hlynur Palmason
Producers: Julie Waltersdorph Hansen, Hlynur Palmason
Screenplay: Hlynur Palmason
Cinematography: Maria von Hausswolff
Editing: Julius Krebs Damsbo
Cast: Elliott Crosset Hove, Simon Sears, Victoria Carmen Sonne, Lars Mikkelsen, Peter Plaugborg, Michael Brostrup, Anders Hove, Laurits Honore Ronne, Jannik Jensen, Christopher Lillman