La mejor generación

The Scandinavians have a gift of telling stories from the dark side of contemporary humanity. I Blodet is another one of these movies, but this one doesn’t stir any emotions and I haven’t felt that heavy mood that makes me sick to the stomach from how realistic the movie is. The main character didn’t give a damn about anything and it projected onto the movie. I wouldn’t have related to this when I was eighteen and I didn’t relate to it now. On the other hand, I know that there’s people who would like it, so to each their own. (15.12.2016)

In the Blood is very long and pretty much about nothing. It is possible to make a more compelling, highly subjective generational statement about the empty existence of today’s youth – see American Honey. Unlike the characters in Andrea Arnold’s film, however, the party-going Danish medical students don’t have to worry about whether they will still have a place to lay their heads tomorrow and whether they will run out of money for food (and alcohol and drugs). Their problems stem simply from not knowing what they want and not appreciating what they have. Since the camera stays glued to their bodies through most of the film or during the tripping scenes (when the main protagonist finds himself in the jungle not only in a figurative sense), it directly adopts their point of view, thus leaving no room for critical distance. It is not a character study, but rather an observation that leads nowhere. Rasmus Heisterberg does the bare minimum to humanise Simon and his peers and explain why they behave like a bunch of immature idiots for whom the apex of fun is taking a live goat to a party. At the same time, the film’s creator does not face the characters with moral dilemmas leading to a fundamental realisation, nor does he force them, figuratively speaking, to reap what they have sown. At roughly the midpoint of the film, after one of the few dramatic scenes (the fall from a bicycle), the agitated naturalistic style calms down (the shots are longer, the colours are cooler, the composition is more balanced, handheld shooting is no longer prevalent), but there is no fundamental transformation of the protagonist. Despite giving a sign that Simon is at last seeing the light, the film ends forgivingly, thus raising the question of what it was all for. If you can identify with the unlikable protagonist or at least get used to him after some time, it is likely that you will enjoy these poorly plotted two hours in his company – thanks, among other things, to the convincingly depicted setting. However, it will be more fun and rewarding for you if you spend the same amount of time with your real friends. 60% (09.11.2016)