Reconstruction (2004)
Runtime: 1 hr 33 mins
Theatrical Release: Sep 10, 2004 Limited
Synopsis: Smitten with a woman he sees on the subway platform, Alex (Nikolaj Lie Kass) impulsively leaves his girlfriend, Simone (Maria Bonnevie) in pursuit of the stranger. Alex and Aimee (also played by Maria Bonnevie) first share a conversation in a bar, and then spend the night together in her hotel... Smitten with a woman he sees on the subway platform, Alex (Nikolaj Lie Kass) impulsively leaves his girlfriend, Simone (Maria Bonnevie) in pursuit of the stranger. Alex and Aimee (also played by Maria Bonnevie) first share a conversation in a bar, and then spend the night together in her hotel room. But there's a hitch: Aimee is married. This beautiful stranger has accompanied her husband, a renowned author (Krister Henriksson), on his book tour to Copenhagen. Suddenly, she is making plans to leave her noncommunicative husband and run away with her new lover. Meanwhile, following his night with Aimee, Alex finds his world turned upside down and inside out. He returns to his apartment to find that it doesn't exist, and neither Simone, nor his friends and family, know who he is. Is this a sign that he should pursue a life with Aimee? Or is the universe simply trying to teach Alex a lesson? This debut feature film from director Christoffer Boe, who also cowrote the screenplay, received the Camera d'Or and the Youth Prize at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival. [More]
Genre: Dramas
Starring: Nicolaj Lie Kass, Maria Bonnevie, Krister Henriksson, Nicolas Bro, Peter Steen
Screenwriter: Christoffer Boe, Mogens Rukov
Producer: Tine Grew Pfeiffer
Director: Ake Sandgren
Producer: Lar Kjeldgaard
Composer: Thomas Knak
DVD Info
Release:
Apr 12, 2005
DVD Features:
- Region (unknown)
- Keep Case
- Full Frame - 1.33
Audio:
- Surround Sound 5.1 English
- Interviews
- Theatrical Trailer
- Previews
DVD Rom Features:
- Weblinks
Buy It On DVD
Reviews
Boe's notion of cinema as a glamorous art is apparent, but his sense of narrative mystery tends to err on the side of pretentiousness.
Toys with our feelings just enough to make us aware of ourselves but sufficiently refrains from manipulation- overload.
Boe can be forgiven for occasionally bringing Reconstruction ... to the brink of pretension. It's his first full- length feature, and this is the mark of a novice. He makes up for it with a natural's gift for storytelling and eye for casting.
Stylish, complex and challenging, Reconstruction is a noir romance that teases the mind but leaves the emotions untouched.
This is Boe's first full-length film, but he already works the art form like a master. He proves he understands love lost and the hungry yearning burning inside love found.
Like love itself, Reconstruction works on an irrational, off-kilter plane, filled with elation, regret and elusive second chances.
Emblematic of a new sort of filmic collage in which artificial construction is as much a featured part of the point as a means to an end.
It manages to engage you on the literal -- the immediate story, that is -- and the abstract.
Starts out a little like a perfume commercial - the close-ups of beautiful people and the meaningful whispers, but it quickly turns into something much more intriguing.
Reconstruction works more resonantly as a cerebral exercise than an emotional voyage.
at once a thought-provoking puzzle and a revel in the sad beauty of the emotion called love
Ultimately, the narrative becomes too hypothetical for its good, but it succeeds in holding one's attention with its romantic intensity and sheer old-fashioned glamour.
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by: HarryTuttle 7/25/04

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