Kjeld (Søren Malling) and Vibeke (Bodil Jørgensen) see their world turned upside down in PARENTS
PARENTS (FORÆLDRE) (Christian Tafdrup, 2016)
Sunday, April 17, Regal Cinemas Battery Park 11-7, 7:15
Wednesday, April 20, Bow Tie Cinemas Chelsea 5, 9:45
Thursday, April 21, Regal Cinemas Battery Park 11-6, 6:15
tribecafilm.com
www.levelk.dk
Danish actor, writer, playwright, and director Christian Tafdrup takes the relationship between mother, father, and child to a whole new extreme in the dark, bittersweet Parents. When their son, Esben (Anton Honik), moves out to seek his own path in life, Kjeld (played by Søren Malling and Elliott Crossett Hove) and Vibeke (Bodil Jørgensen and Miri-Ann Beuschel) immediately start suffering from empty nest syndrome, especially as Esben seems to need them only to do his laundry. Kjeld returns to the apartment he shared with Vibeke when they were young lovers, hoping to rekindle the flame. But when a Twilight Zone-like twist upends the family dynamic, Esben, Kjeld, and Vibeke must redefine who they are and what they want out of life. Tafdrup, who appears as the realtor in the film, balances the real and the surreal with mixed results, as there are gaping plot holes that can be extremely frustrating, but it all comes together by the conclusion. Malling (A War, A Royal Affair) and Jørgensen (Badehotellet, The Idiots) are terrific as a husband and wife taking stock of who they are, both individually and as a couple, as Tafdrup (An Infatuation) and editors Anne Østerud and Tanya Fallenius maintain a slow but steady pace and cinematographer Maria von Hausswolff beautifully captures Jette Lehmann’s sensational production design, consisting of a wide range of interiors that mimic the characters’ evolving psyches as they deal with an impossible situation. Parents is screening in the International Narrative Competition at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 17, 20, and 21, with Tafdrup, Østerud, producer Thomas Heinesen, and actors Beuschel and Honik participating in what should be some very interesting Q&A sessions.