Year: 2013
Director: Fredrik Bond
Writer: Matt Drake
Charlie Countryman travels to Bucharest after his mother dies. He falls in love with a beautiful woman, only to realise she might accidentally drag him into something that's hard to recover from.
I've wanted to watch this movie since I started liking Mads Mikkelsen. I think I've had this movie ever since I heard about it, but it took me a while to actually watch it, which is nothing new. It always happens to me when I find a movie that seems cool, but I don't have high expectations. If I have high expectations, it's easier to watch a movie, but also easier to disappoint.
The music during the opening credits seemed kind of strange, mostly because the opening didn't seem as calm and peaceful as the music was. Mostly through the movie the music (and sound mixing anyway) seemed kind of out of place, like it was from other kind of movie. But it really suited the movie so well. They also used a lot of electronic dream pop and indie, which was really cool, like M83 and The xx, both are bands I like very much. The music gave this movie something more, like usually people wouldn't have gone to that direction when thinking about how this movie had a lot of crime and thriller elements. Some people would've probably used something much more safe, something more classical and less dream pop. Electronic dream pop certainly gave this movie another feeling to it. I'm glad they went this way.
The cinematography was wonderful, very beautiful. Actually almost immediately I started thinking how this movie looked like most Swedish drama movies I've seen. As it turns out, Fredrik Bond is Swedish. If I understood correctly, he has directed some music videos, and if this is the case it's definitely visible. Usually music videos have a really nice look to them, of course depending on the music and the band, but if you think in general, they are amazing visually. And in The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman you can see certain elements more common in music videos. This movie had parts that visually reminded me very much of some dark Nordic dramas, and some parts like music videos, almost like what poetry would look like visually. The cinematography both did and didn't work with music, which was actually very cool in a weird way. Still, astonishing visual experience.
So, the visual side works, the music works. What about the story? Well, it didn't seem like anything special. The plot was kind of basic, and partially clichéd. The woman Charlie fell in love with, Gabi, was definitely a Manic Pixie Dream Girl, which could've worked with the story going differently. Now she just seemed like something for guys to dream about, her story was basically based on the men of her life - her dad, Nigel and Charlie. That was definitely disappointing. And Charlie's crush on her was partially creepy, I mean at one point he just kept following her around. I think partially that had something to do with him being on drugs. The story wasn't in any way original, it's been done a million times before. Even though the story wasn't too original, The Necessary Death Of Charlie Countryman was still very thrilling. That might be because of the cinematography and not just writing, but they still managed to make me feel something.
I actually like the fact that the writer used Bucharest. I mean usually in stories an US citizen comes to Europe, and what do they visit? Paris, London, all the over-romanticized, over-used cities. Bucharest was a nice change, definitely.
The performances from the actors and actresses were good. Shia LaBeouf's performance is what made Charlie Countryman easy to identify with, the writing just made him sort of creepy, pathetic and helpless, but LaBeaouf gave some more feeling to the character. Evan Rachel Wood was convincing, it was hard to remember that she's not actually Romanian. Mads Mikkelsen was scary and handsome at the same time, and he definitely is one of the best European actors. He needs more "international" roles where he doesn't play the bad guy. He's wonderful in Danish drama movies, and even in this one Danish romantic comedy I've seen. Still, the foreign guy with the funny accent gets the role of the bad guy.
If I only had to rate cinematography and music, I'd give this movie a 9 or a 10, but the story does affect the final score, I'm afraid. But this movie was still definitely good, and worth seeing. It was stunning visually, and it was thrilling, and the story wasn't bad, just unoriginal. I still wanted to see through the whole thing, and it didn't leave a bad taste in my mouth. I'm not regretting this experience. This is a nice change, the story is like from a Hollywood film, but otherwise it feels like European drama. Very good experience.
☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
8 / 10
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