Recently I watched the marvelous film, Applause. I felt this was a simple film, but with incredibly deep characters. Even though it was in full-color, the image looked like black and white with a number of smoky images in the bar scenes and the cloudy Danish weather. I liked the way the soundtrack was used, as it was really minimal and didn't distract me from the actor's performances. You don't see a lot of US movies like this one - to me it was fresh and I realized how much I missed watching European films. The movie looked deep into Paprika Steen's character (Thea) of a mother, ex-wife, and actress. I enjoyed how Paprika acted the two sides of herself, a mother's sweet love for her children and her madness. I really thought about idea of marriage and having children because people always change over time depending on their situation and the environment that they live in. Thea's character was powerful, dynamic and so realistic.

Paprika Steen gives an amazing performance as a successful actress (Thea Barfoed ) who is trying to put her demons behind her and get back her children. As the movie unfolds and Thea's personality is revealed, we can see the conflicts and problems that led to her losing her children in the first place. I really liked how the movie cleverly uses a real stage play that Thea is starring in, as a comment on her life and personality. Her time on stage and backstage as the star is interwoven and contrasted with her encounters with her children and "real life". And I was really impressed with Paprika Steen in the lead role. I cannot say I found the character of Thea entirely sympathetic but I could not look away. I was mesmerized by the moving portrait of this very flawed but magnetic personality trying to deal with her own failings. Ms. Steen's performance is not to be missed.

Discerning cinephiles, especially those familiar with the kings and queens of bleak, the Danish, are in for a treat. Paprika Steen is absolutely riveting in Applause, which opened a one-week Best Actress Oscar-qualifying run at the Laemmle Sunset 5 on Dec 3. Screeners have been sent to members of the Academy, and Steen has flown in from Denmark for a series of SAG and American Cinematheque special events, as well as a host of publicity interviews and appearances in Los Angeles and New York. The movie premieres on January 21, 2011.See the virtuoso performance that Karen Durbin of the New York Times described as, "one of the best screen performances of the year."Steen plays acclaimed stage actress, Thea Barfold, who is trying to juggle three wobbly plates on long thin sticks without letting them crash, all while drinking. First, she shouldn't be drinking. That's why she and her husband are divorced and he has custody of their two young sons. Second, she's trying to convince her ex, her two sons, her ex's new wife (a shrink--great, just what Thea needs), as well as herself, that she's ready to resume some kind of motherly role before it's too late. As the movie opens we see Thea telling her sons she loves them only for the older one to reply, "Dad says you're crazy." Thea's smile, committed to portraying the new Thea, does not disagree with the assessment. Steen's half-thawed facial expression sets the tone for how she will captivate viewers from this moment forward. Constantly on-screen, Steen conjures a way of holding our attention rapt from start to finish. Oh, the third plate! I almost forgot. There it is now, barely spinning. In the midst of convincing her family and herself she is sufficiently steady and balanced and deserving of trust and time with her boys, Thea happens to be playing one of the most physically and mentally all-consuming characters an actress could possibly tackle: the insane drunk, Martha, in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" Talk about an impossible juggling act.Watch the scene where Thea takes her boys for a drive to a lake, without permission from their father, and tell yourself the plates are still spinning and Thea has it all under control.If Steen gets nominated she'll win. She's that good.

So this is not another dogma-movie, but why oh why do Danish movie makers insist on the hand held camera and the grainy pictures? Does this make it more believable, do we Do reality look anything like that? Another brain fart, another artsy movie without any substance whatsoever. Only intention is trying to be high culture. And that obviously can be achieved only by emulating better and older movies that did the hand held thing first. There may have been a point to this sheet initially, but boy am I tired of the lack of imagination. Right now I'm willing to watch any crap Danish movie if the pictures are in focus. I'm terribly sorry, but making the world look like I've forgotten my contacts do not make it art! Especially not after having watched the bloody style for 15 years now.So now for the movie itself. A story about a theater diva on a downward spiral fueled by alcohol. In itself a quite appealing setup. The main character, Stella, is supposed to be sexy, charming, troubled, exotic. Steen does not however make us believe it. It's obvious she herself wants to be all of the above, but it comes out pathetic. Overacting, ridiculous screaming and she can't seem to leave her one comic trademark behind either.As for the story it's supposed to be depressing and dark, but nobody has the courage to make it so. It turns out rather bland instead. Does she end up murdering her children? The suspense is killing me! Well she doesn't and I don't care.The actors do fine work for the most part, Michael Falch, even the the children, but perpetual overacting from this unfunny comedienne turned serious actor is embarrassing to say the least.The movie is rather short though. It felt long, but wasn't. The only positive I can think of! Come on Denmark. Shake the beast that is Lars Trier and dogma movies and reinvent yourself. Because this current tendency makes me sad!