GFF 2011: Submarino

Using a novice cast and crew from the Danish film scene, Submarino harks back to the earlier film-making of director Thomas Vinterberg, a key figure of the Dogma 95 movement. Strong on plot and characterisation, it follows brothers Nick (Jakob Cedergren) and his younger, unnamed sibling (Peter Plaugborg) who are being torn apart by their neglectful, alcoholic mother and the subsequent cot-death of their baby brother.

It’s grim stuff to the point that one of the film's few laughs, where Nick gives his unconscious mother a mild electric shock via the puddle of her own urine, is equally as saddening as it is funny. Yet the multitude of knocks each brother is dealt always feels believable within the bleak world into which they have fallen. When Nick finds a friend and potential lover dead, his plea of “Please...I can’t take anymore” is particularly choking. Fine performances, small slivers of redemption and an ever-forging presence of hope, despite the odds, make Submarino compelling viewing.