International star Mads Mikkelsen picked up the Best Actor prize at Cannes for what’s become one of the most acclaimed arthouse films of that decade: Thomas Vinterberg’s provocative allegory of mass hysteria, tightly plotted, with an ending to leave you rattled.
Before his prison flick Bronson, before his acid trip viking epic Valhalla Rising, before his neon Ryan Gosling vehicle Drive, and before his Bangkok actioner Only God Forgives, Danish hotshot Nicolas Winding Refn’s smash debut was a calling card for all that followed.
Following his memorable supporting turn in the first Pusher film, Mads Mikkelsen moves center stage for this adrenalized sequel. Refn’s tale of fathers and sons is once again filtered through the fatalistic prism of noir, albeit this time with a nightmarish agenda that borders on the surreal.
Willem Dafoe followed his Best Actor prize at Venice with an Oscar® nomination for his magnificent performance as Vincent van Gogh in this impressionistic biopic. Beautifully directed by Julian Schnabel, At Eternity’s Gate is an immersive portrait, not just of the artist, but his singular worldview.
