1984-a-thon: Twist and Shout

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Forgotten Filmz had a wonderful idea at the beginning of the summer to host a blogathon centered around the year 1984, his favorite year of movie making. I can't argue, a lot of great things came from 1984. Of course by the time my lazy ass got around to checking her email, all my favorite films were taken, so I had to do a little searching.


I landed on a Danish film called Twist and Shout. (Tro, håb og kærlighed) I've loved every film I've seen out of Denmark, so these seemed right up my alley. I had an interesting viewing experience ahead of me.

 The film follows two teens, Bjorn (Adam Tonsberg) and Eric (Lars Simonsen) as they come of age and fall in love in the 1960's. Of course, nothing is that simple. The women they chase coudn't be more complicated, and they've already had some rough life experiences.

 What I didn't realize when I picked this film out of obscurity was that it was actually a sequel to another film called Zappa that was released the year before. Netflix sent me Zappa in Twist and Shout's DVD sleeve in error, so that worked out for me in a way. I got to know Bjorn a little better. (And thank God Todd gave us all so much time to prepare for this since I had to send my DVD back and wait for a new one)

 Twist and Shout didn't really bring anything new to the "coming of age" genre. Maybe it did back then, there's truly some hard scenes to watch, but it just didn't stick with me. Maybe I got my expectations too high. I was excited at the prospect of finding another foreign gem, then I got saddled with it's mediocre precursor first. That's not to say the film is bad. It isn't. The music was infectious and I enjoyed the two leads. I got Stand By Me vibes here and there, but ultimately this film was just okay. 

 Thanks for hosting, Todd! This was a very interesting journey to find a film I had never heard of before.

Comments

  1. DellAugust 25, 2014 at 4:33 PM

    You definitely plucked one from obscurity. I've never even heard of this one. Lucky for you Netflix made a error in your favor or it could've really been interesting.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamAugust 26, 2014 at 7:55 AM

      Yeah, I definitely wasn't upset over getting Zappa first. I think the normal DVD is supposed to have both films on it, but Netflix probably doesn't work that way.

      Delete
  2. UnknownAugust 25, 2014 at 5:13 PM

    It seems that many coming of age stories seem typical and predictable.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamAugust 26, 2014 at 7:51 AM

      They are. Last year I was really impressed with The Kings of Summer and The Spectacular Now, those were different additions to the genre.

      Delete
  3. AnonymousAugust 26, 2014 at 4:55 AM

    Oh, this sounds interesting, even if it's not all that great! That Netflix DVD thing seems so cool, I wish we had it. Lovely review!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamAugust 26, 2014 at 7:50 AM

      Thank you! I love Netflix's DVD service, they have so much more than my local video store which is probably going to go out of business like all the others.

      Delete
  4. Silver ScreeningsAugust 27, 2014 at 2:00 PM

    Like you, I've never seen a Danish film I didn't like. I'll give this one a go. Thanks for introducing me/us to this film.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Forgotten FilmsAugust 27, 2014 at 10:35 PM

    Sounds a little like Lemon Popsicle and its series of sequels.

    Thanks for participating in the blogathon!

    ReplyDelete
  6. JoshDecember 2, 2014 at 3:05 PM

    I've never heard of either film, but I'm now intrigued. Great choice(s).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamDecember 3, 2014 at 6:39 AM

      This was certainly a very interesting experience.

      Delete

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