Karlovy Vary

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Liv (Denmark)

By LESLIE FELPERIN

A Nimbus Film production, in association with Zentropa Entertainments5, with the support of New Danish Screen. (International sales: Nimbus, Copenhagen.) Produced by Meta Louise Foldager. Directed, written by Heidi Maria Faisst.
 
With: Malou Leth Reyman, Nastja Arcel, Paw Henriksen, Frederik Paarup.
 

A mother and her teenage daughter compete for the same man's attention during a grueling Yuletide in "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." Impeccably turned-out if deeply uncomfortable Danish four-hander packs more drama into fifty-nine crisp minutes than scores of other features twice its length. Writer-helmer Heidi Maria Faisst's follow-up to her 22-minute Cannes-contending short "The Pact" confirms she's a talent to watch. However, awkward running time of "Star" will considerably dim its fest, theatrical and broadcasting prospects offshore.

In the spacious apartment where action is entirely confined, 14-year-old Liv (Malou Leth Reyman) tries to get her depressed, recently separated mother (Nastja Arcel, from "King's Game"), who is never named, interested in Christmas, just two days away. Danny, Liv's 16-year-old brother (Frederik Paarup), suggests maybe they should go stay with their dad and his new g.f. instead, but Liv, having taken her mother's side in the split-up, angrily insists this would be disloyal.

Clinging like a kid one minute and a moody teenage brat the next, Liv decides to prepare the traditional Danish Christmas Eve feast dinner herself, partly out of mature generosity and partly out of a childish longing for normalcy. But on the morning of the big day, Liv finds Jonas (Paw Henriksen), a handsome guy in his 20s whom the mother picked up at the office party, in the mother's bed.

While the mother sleeps off her hangover, Jonas stays on to help make dinner and quickly charms Liv. When the mother finally surfaces for dinner, she's at first amused and then threatened by how well Jonas and Liv, now dressed provocatively, are getting on. The mother starts to assert her sexual hold over the young man and purposely embarrass her daughter. Liv's means of taking revenge the next day will have shocking repercussions for all four characters.

Like Catherine Hardwicke's "Thirteen," pic convincingly shows just how spiteful, selfish and vulnerable tween girls can be, crafting a portrait that will leave parents both wincing and alarmed. Faisst's script, bolstered by densely layered perfs from 18-year-old Reyman and Arcel, also gets just right the fetid complexities of mother-daughter relationships. Jonas' actions, on the other hand, are more enigmatic, and some auds may feel the pic paints men in too harsh a light.

Naturalism seems to be Faisst's lode star here, so lensing on grainy 16mm stock favors long, handheld takes that dance around the characters, while music is almost exclusively source. In fact, the pic's combo of controversial subject matter and austere realism would qualify it for a certificate of approval from Dogma 95 brethren Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg if they hadn't wound down the movement.

Premiered already on Danish TV, pic's running time may be seven minutes too long for broadcasters in search of product to fit drama slots with set commercial breaks, while theatrical handlers would need to package "Twinkle" with another short to justify usual admission prices. Nevertheless, Faisst and the pic's producers are to be commended for not succumbing to temptation to pad the film out to make up a feature running time. Result is a film that feels exactly right in length for the story it wants to tell, an impression all-too rare in these days of bloated narratives.

Camera (color, 16-to-35mm), Manuel Alberto Claro; editor, Jacob Thuesen; music, Povl Kristian Mortensen; costume designer, Pernille Holm. Reviewed at Karlovy Vary Film Festival (Another View), July 2, 2006. Running time: 59 MIN.