Bleeder (1999)

While visiting in London, I watched Bleeder. I liked it a lot. Haven't seen any other Danish films, but this one is great. One of the other people commenting here said it was made on a low budget. I certainly wouldn't say it showed heavily. There's no real expensive shots (crowd scenes, explosions, etc), but everything is shot to scale and looks good. Especially the cinematography. This and the acting are perhaps the strongest elements of the film. I kept watching how they had framed each shot and how they would do those angles where one person is in the forground facing the camera with an expression on their face while the other person is off in the background waiting for the foreground person to turn back around. Great! I hope this movie gets distributed in the US.

Fmovies: When Nicolas Winding Refn gets Zlatko Buric, Mads Mikkelsen and Kim Bodnia together a good movie is a must. Please, disregard narrow IMDb genre classification of the film as "Horror" or "Thriller" as it is the way the movie looks to some five year old child who has not understood anything seen. This art work is a modern life drama colored by David Lynch camera and portrayed by spirit of Bunuel. Excellent art work by well known Danish film school. I said "modern" drama since the movie is getting into the core of the present social structure of the modern world. It shows a depressive slice of our little lives that are being cultivated in silence of violence, loneliness, alienation and lost life course, leading to self-destruction. Dark as our presence. One more good job for Nicolas Winding Refn.

Detractors may highlight the unnecessary violence in this stylish piece of film-making. But pay them no attention. N. Refn's 2nd feature is cutting it pretty close when it comes to assessing life's terrible lessons.

Using almost the same cast as he did in his debut (Pusher), Bleeder tells the story of how a father-to-be deals with his impending fate. It addresses his current state of mind, his readjustment of values and how all this would adversely affect the people around him. The violence is necessary as the characters emanate from the streets and one can only infer, from the several scenes, that the neighbourhood is rough and littered with gangs and racial tension.

There is also a secondary story about the budding relationship between a video store clerk and a well-read waitress which is as sweet as it is subtle. It's interesting to note that their tastes in videos and books are pretty gritty as well.

Bleeder fmovies. Leo and Louise are a young couple living together in Copenhagen. Leo often goes out with his friends while Louise usually stays home. But when Louise tells Leo she's pregnant, a spark is ignited and Leo begins to become cold and distant. His anger and self-hatred finally erupt into violence against Louise (plot).

Nicolas Winding Refn, the genius behind many good films like "Pusher" and lately the best film in 2011 "Drive" write and direct fine film and present this in tow parts First in Leo character and his problem with his wife, Scend in Lenny character and how the filmgeek turn to a normal guy with girls.

The actors are brilliant all around, especially Mads Mikkelsen who does a fantastic performance as a filmgeek, with major problems when it comes to talking and being around girls. And Kim Bodnia gives a really introspective performance that proves his status as one of europe's if not the whole worlds best actors.

The film was great and worth watching, i love everything in this film the conversation between the characters was great especially when they talk about films, the bloody scene well made by the staff .. and the last few seconds when the light off in the restaurant Lenny & Lea staring each other!.

4/5

This movie is dark and real.Its about a man who has nothing to live for.And it only gets worse.This is the movie that makes you think about how good your life actually is and that there is a lot of people who have it worse.Thanks to another great performance by Kim Bodnia this movie will stick with you for days.

The director's debut, "Pusher", was an excellent tribute to American Cinema (Abel Ferrara, Scorsese) and a portrait of the drugworld of Copenhagen but "Bleeder" is much more personal, mature and grim film. The story deals with the relationship of four friends (& B-filmfanatics); a videostoreowner, his helper, a soon-be-a-dad and his girl's violent brother. Things gets complicated between the last two when the guy starts beatin' his pregnant girl and the brother's threatin' to retaliate. When the girl loses her unborn baby after a beatin' things get VERY ugly! There's no real reason for the violence which makes the mood of the movie extremely creepy. The characters and dialogue are very believable and impossible to forget. The few (very) violent scenes are so unexpected that you'll jump in seat. The film are also filled with nods to exploitation cinema (clip from Lustig's "Maniac" & "Vigilante", "Andy Warhol's Frankenstein" etc.). It's made on a low budget but is beautifully filmed (and acted) with a great glampunk soundtrack. "Bleeder" is a movie that gets under your skin for days so check out this masterpiece.