Reviewer's Rating 4 out of 5
Dragonflies (脴yenstikker) (2003)
15

The premise to "Dragonflies" may seem familiar, as a couple's rural idyll is disrupted by a former associate arriving to persuade an ex-criminal to come out of retirement. However Norwegian director Marius Holst ("Cross My Heart and Hope to Die") invests his tightly-coiled chamber drama with an atmosphere of brooding disquiet that elevates this material from a mere genre exercise.

We first meet the bearish Eddie (Kim Bodnia from "Pusher"), peacefully drifting along in his rowing-boat in the water near his countryside house, which he shares with his younger, pregnant girlfriend Maria (Maria Bonnevie). Both are finding respite from their troubled pasts, yet their secluded existence is threatened by an unexpected visit from Kullman (Mikael Persbrandt). He's a friend of Eddie's, recently released from jail.

"Can't you make him go away?" pleads Maria. Kullman, though, insists that her boyfriend accompany him on a mission of revenge, and the mysterious ensuing events - the burning down of a nearby-barn, the discovery of a neighbour's dead dog, a deliberate act of self-wounding - suggest that Kullman won't be easily dissuaded from his plans...

Scripted by Nikolaj Frobenius, who was responsible for the original Norwegian version of "Insomnia", "Dragonflies" is a work which is prepared to take its time in establishing its own distinctive mood.

Paying close attention to the surrounding landscape, Holst is clearly a filmmaker who respects his audience, avoiding the unnecessary plot twists that clutter up so many contemporary Hollywood thrillers, whilst confidently handling the film's actions set-piece - a bungled reprisal raid.

Certainly there are echoes of Roman Polanski's "Knife in the Water", in the way the film probes at the sexual jealousies underpinning the triangular relationship between the three principals.

Evocatively shot in just three weeks, and apparently heavily improvised by the cast, the conviction of all the performances commands the attention, with Persbrandt's subtly unsettling presence particularly noteworthy.

End Credits

Director: Marius Holst

Writer: Nikolaj Frobenius

Stars: Maria Bonnevie, Kim Bodnia, Mikael Persbrandt, Tord Peterson

Genre: Thriller, World Cinema

Length: 109 minutes

Cinema: 04 July 2003

Country: Norway

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