Lone Scherfig

I saw two great movies recently, both by Danish director
Lone Scherfig (who sadly lacks a Wikipedia entry).
The movies are Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself and
Italian for Beginners.

Wilbur takes place in an anonymous town in Scotland.
The plot focuses on the suicidal Wilbur and his kindly
brother Harper who own a used bookstore. After
yet another botched suicide attempt, Wilbur moves
into the bookstore, Harper's home, so he can be watched
over. Things get messy when Harper falls in love with
a bookstore regular and they are married.
While the plot is a thought-provoking one, the real
intensity of the film comes from Wilbur's extraordinary
complexity, contrasted with Harper's somewhat self
deprecating goodness of heart. I was going to try
to write more, but after reading A.O. Scott's review,
I realize I should just point you there. I could do no
better, and certainly much worse. My favorite line
in that review:

"In less sure -- and also less dry -- hands, the story of two
brothers dealing with the fact of death might have melted
into sentimental slop, one of those life-affirming pictures
that make you want to kill yourself. Instead, ''Wilbur Wants
to Kill Himself,'' which begins with a suicide attempt and
ends in a graveyard, with plenty of trips to the hospital
in between, makes you glad to be alive.

Italian for Beginners is a beautiful Dogme film, revolving
around a group of Danish adults taking a beginning
Italian class. There is almost no plot but for
a humorous and touching development of at least 6
intriguing and delightful characters. Drama is always
shocking to me in that, unlike in opera, so much can
be done with so little. (I'm thinking particularly of
Metamorphoses by Mary Zimmerman). Here in
Italian for Beginners, with the Dogme (lack of) effects
that make it seem like anyone could pick up a camera
at Best Buy and make a great movie. A heartwarming
thought.