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Denmark · 2010
1h 39m
Director Michael Noer
Starring Pilou Asbæk, Dulfi Al-Jabouri, Roland Møller, Jacob Gredsted
Genre Crime, Drama
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Imprisoned for violent assault, Rune's a cocky, good-looking young man placed in the hardcore ward, where his survival depends on quickly learning the prison's parallel world of rules, honor, and obligations. Rachid, a young Muslim prisoner who becomes Rune's friend and accomplice, defies the rigid racial stratifications among the inmates.
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Following "Prophet" director Jacques Audiard's lead, Lindholm and Noer attempt to make up in raw emotion what their film lacks in context, an approach good for a surprising amount of mileage, until the project finally chokes on its own inevitable nihilism.
This unflinching parable brings the hammer down on its cinematic brethren's fetishization of cell-block Rockefellers. R's final shot says it all: The house wins. The house always wins.
Slant Magazine by Glenn Heath Jr.
If the trajectory of R foreshadows tragedy early and often (what prison film doesn't?), the filmmakers manage to infuse quiet moments of reflection and panic into each man's traumatic experience.
The New York Times by Stephen Holden
Isn't as hellish as the situation behind bars is portrayed in American movies, some of which are so gory they qualify as prison porn. But it is awful enough.
If you were among the many who thought highly of "A Prophet," the French prison drama that played here last year, you'll want to see the brutally realistic Danish thriller R.
Promise of a Rose