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The Kingdom
Set in the neurosurgical ward of Copenhagen's Rigshospitalet, the city and country's main hospital, nicknamed "Riget", a number of characters, staff and patients alike, encounter bizarre phenomena, both human and supernatural.
Release : | 1994 |
Rating : | 8.2 |
Studio : | WDR, Zentropa Entertainments, Det Danske Filminstitut, |
Crew : | Assistant Property Master, Assistant Property Master, |
Cast : | Ernst-Hugo Järegård Kirsten Rolffes Holger Juul Hansen Søren Pilmark Ghita Nørby |
Genre : | Fantasy Drama Horror Comedy Mystery |
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Good story, Not enough for a whole film
Did you people see the same film I saw?
Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,
The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.
If you get a chance to watch this TV series, please do so as you will be well rewarded. More bizarre than Twin Peaks, this series of 8 episodes is eerie and unsettling throughout, always surprising you with the next unexpected, supernatural revelation. It is an early showcase for the talent Von Trier was to show in his later movies and contains many unforgettable characters from Stig Helmer to Udo Kier's baby calling for its mama to the precognitive Down's syndrome children.Stephen King's American remake Kingdom Hospital doesn't hold a candle to Von Trier's original.
This was originally made for Danish television, so don't let the length scare you off. Each episode runs 60-75 minutes, and they have pretty fast pacing with a large cast of characters. There were two series of four episodes made. Compared to a show like Lost, the reveals of the mysteries come very quickly. It's a mishmash of several genres, including hospitals shows, soaps opera, and horror (it uses the television medium in much the same way that Twin Peaks at its best did). They make good use of the grainy look of the series with spooky imagery. There's also a lot of dark humor. One of the major story lines of the first series is a doctor learning that a patient with a rare illness isn't willing to donate his liver to science, but is an organ donor. So the doctor decides to have the diseased liver transplanted into himself. There's also a Greek chorus made up of dishwashers with Down Syndrome.The second series is generally worse, but it's even more more insane and absurd, and at least it never gets boring. Unfortunately several major cast members died before a planned third series could be made (I guess that's what you get for casting a bunch of elderly actors) so the show doesn't end with much closure.
The only thing this series demonstrates is: - Lars von Trier wanted to dabble in something like Twin Peaks - Lars von Trier is capable of making lousy TV too.The television format has a way of liberating everyone's inner hack. The 'running series' presents difficulties that are always solved conventionally. Namely, execs & advertisers live in horror that a narrative payoff will come too quickly, which produces two horrible cop-outs: a teaser before every commercial (which threatens that something is about to happen), followed by the complete dissipation of that potential after the commercials are over; and the chronically-delayed promise that something of interest will occur over every ten or twenty episodes. That payout is simply too low.Although cable isn't hampered by commercials, there is still a deep fear of giving anything away and losing viewers. This fosters and grows viewers that clear time from their lives to receive each new worthless update. I have found each new "series of excellence" (or so I'm told by critics and friends - Soparanos, Lost, Deadwood, Six Feet Under) to be just as crappy as regular mediocre TV; ruined by the format itself. I watch these shows and all I see is the meandering which occurs as storyteller strings you along with delays and non-committals, etc.. Then, in disappointment, I picture the conventional minds that would tune in again and again.Do I have stronger eyes than most people? How on earth could von Trier make this crap after Zentropa? If I see one more "Ghost Needs Closure" movie, I'm going to help the creators become ghosts themselves.
First of all, Riget is wonderful. Good comedy and mystery thriller at the same time. Nice combination of strange 'dogma' style of telling the story together with good music and great actors. But unfortunately there's no 'the end'. As for me it's unacceptable. I was thinking... how it will be possible to continue the story without Helmer and Drusse? ...and I have some idea. I think Lars should make RIGET III a little bit different. I'm sure that 3rd part without Helmer wouldn't be the same. So here's my suggestion. Mayble little bit stupid, maybe not. I know that Lars likes to experiment. So why not to make small experiment with Riget3? I think the only solution here is to create puppet-driven animation (like for example "team America" by Trey Parker) or even computer 3d animation. I know it's not the same as real actors, but in principle I believe it could work... only this way it's possible to make actors alive again. For Riget fans this shouldn't be so big difference - if the animation will be done in good way average 'watcher' will consider it normal just after first few shots of the movie. The most important thing now is the story. It's completely understandable that it's not possible to create Riget 3 with the actors nowadays. So why not to play with animation? And... look for the possibilities that it gives to you! Even marketing one! Great director finishes his trilogy after 10 years using puppet animation. Just dreams?I hope to see Riget 3 someday... or even to see just the script. I'm curious how the story ends... and as I expect- everybody here do.greets, slajps: I'm not talking about the "kingdom hospital" by Stephen King ;-)