No film released this year has left me more shattered during its end credits than Thomas Vinterberg’s The Hunt. The film has moments of immense power and at times is very hard to watch. The story, co-written by Vinterberg, lives on the heartstrings of its characters, led by a towering performance from Danish leading man Madds Mikkelsen.

Lucas (Mikkelsen) is a divorced man who works at an elementary school. Right away we are shown Lucas loves his job and his fellow teachers as well as the kids at the school love him. At every moment the kids seem to be tackling him, laughing as they do it. He is a modest man who is a little on the quiet side. I remember scenes of him nonchalantly walking to and from school, enjoying his surroundings with every step he takes.

Lucas’ best friend for the past 20 years has been Theo (Thomas Bo Larsen). Theo’s 5 year old daughter, Klara, attends the same school where Lucas teaches at. Klara develops a small innocent crush on Lucas and in one scene approaches him about it. Lucas dismisses her notion, but Klara retaliates by telling the principal that he molested her. The remainder of the film deals with the outcome of the event. Lucas’ life slowly begins to unravel one piece at a time. At first the principal suggests that he should not come to school for a while, but before long he is told he doesn’t have a job anymore. His girlfriend sticks with him until his depression is eventually too much for her to handle.

What impressed me most about Vinterberg’s scintillating film is how real all the events felt, especially the characters and their motivations and reactions to everything that happens. In one scene, Theo, who, remember, has been best friends with Lucas for 20+ years, threatens to kill him if everything his daughter has said turns out to be true. In another scene close friends and family of Lucas rally around him to support him; I feel like in lesser movie he would’ve been alone to drive the isolation theme home.

As mentioned before, The Hunt is a very hard film to watch at times. Much of it is Lucas suffering as people around him ex-communicate him as he tries to prove his innocence. Some of these scenes, however, I felt were taken in the wrong direction by Vinterberg. One scene involving Lucas’ teenage son going to Theo’s home (during a gathering with their friends and family nonetheless) seems completely unnecessary. I understand what the point Vinterberg was trying to make, but I feel like the scene just didn’t need to belong in this film.

Another scene has Lucas being assaulted at a grocery store by the staff who tells him he isn’t welcome. After refusing to leave they beat him up and end up throwing canned goods at him as he lies defenseless on the ground. The result of this scene is Theo watching from his car in the parking lot as Lucas walks away morally deflated at how the community is treating him. In my opinion, this scene was little over the top.

While a couple of scenes felt out of place, there is no denying how great this film is. Vinterberg handles The Hunt with elegance and Mikkelsen is hypnotic in the lead performance (he would get an Oscar nomination if I were voting). The closing scenes of the film suggest that while you may be proven innocent, you will have to look over your shoulder for the rest of your life because not everyone will be convinced of your innocence. Vinterberg’s film is not only scary in how proficient it is, but also in how close to reality it is. The Hunt is a mesmerizing film that will haunt you long after it’s over.

The Hunt trailer:

It turned out that the day I was most cautious about was the best experience I had at the festival so far. Thomas Vinterberg’s The Hunt has been one of the hotter titles here, with praise thrown at it left and right from people who got the chance to see it. I didn’t know much about The Hunt going in, and despite my little knowledge beforehand it didn’t buck the current trend of ‘good not great’ that I’ve been experiencing. Kindergarten teacher Lucas (Mads Mikkelsen) has his life turned upside down when a student at his school falsely accuses him of molesting her. The girl has a crush on Lucas, but when he rejects a gift she made for him (which she snuck in his coat shortly before trying to kiss him on the mouth) the girl angrily tells another teacher that he exposed himself to her. What makes this situation even more complicated is that the girl’s father is Lucas’ best friend Theo (Thomas Bo Larsen). The Hunt is a crackling drama that benefits greatly from taking what would be a morally black and white situation and forcing it into a grey area. Every character behaves justifiably (I can’t say the same for their actions), and Vinterberg milks out the intensity of the situation as much as possible. The first hour of the film, with Lucas slowly being ostracized by the town, is mostly predictable until Vinterberg brings in Lucas’ son. The movie shifts its POV to the son, and when we see how the townspeople deem him guilty by association things take an interesting turn. Mads Mikkelsen is terrific as Lucas, but some praise should also go to Bo Larsen who easily sells how conflicted his character is over whether to condemn or stand by his best friend. The Hunt may have been too see-through for me to truly enjoy it, but Vinterberg has crafted a very good movie here.

RATING: 7.5/10

The Hunt

And just as I was lamenting the lack of truly great films at TIFF this year, along comes Leviathan to save the day. As we’ve already mentioned in our trailer post, Leviathan is an abstract documentary that was filmed on a fishing boat working around the eastern seaboard. The opening sequence starts out from the point of view of a fisherman hauling in a catch, but suddenly the camera is thrown into the ocean. As the camera bobs up and down in the ocean we get brief glimpses of seagulls flying in the sky. Describing these kinds of scenes don’t do justice to how visceral watching Leviathan is. The use of small GoPro cameras not only gets some amazing footage, it lends an otherworldly quality to what’s on screen. The constant movement makes it impossible to orient oneself, so when the camera catches a net being pulled in during the night it can easily look like some sort of monstrous creature coming out of the water. I don’t see how anyone could watch Leviathan outside of a theatre and get the same impact as watching it on a giant screen. After being assaulted for nearly 90 minutes, the lights came on in the theatre and I suddenly realized that I seemed to have lost my place. Everything around me looked foreign, like I was suddenly dropped into the theatre and trying to figure out where I was. It’s the kind of reaction I’ve never had after watching a film, and it left me feeling euphoric afterwards. Leviathan is the best film of the year for me right now, the kind of movie that makes me realize why I love going to TIFF in the first place.

RATING: 9/10

Leviathan

NEXT UP: Post Tenebras Lux which gained Carlos Reygadas a Best Director prize at Cannes this year. It’ll be followed by When Night Falls, which annoyed the Chinese government so much that they offered to buy the film just so they could bury it. Plus, a review of Motorway.

Recap of some of my Tweets from today:

Follow @WayTooIndie for full coverage of the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival!

In line for THE HUNT right now after arriving early at #TIFF12 today. Don’t know much about this film other than it pisses some people off.

— Way Too Indie (@WayTooIndie) September 12, 2012

Thomas Vinterberg at a Q&A for THE HUNT which got a standing ovation twitter.com/WayTooIndie/st…

— Way Too Indie (@WayTooIndie) September 12, 2012

Now in line for the premiere of LEVIATHAN which @cinemaguild has picked up for distribution! That already tells me it must be good #TIFF12

— Way Too Indie (@WayTooIndie) September 12, 2012

Someone just asked Vinterberg if he could explain dogme 95. KILL ME.

— Way Too Indie (@WayTooIndie) September 12, 2012

Overheard someone say they thought Morgan Freeman died a week ago, so anyone who thinks that #TIFF12 is for intellectuals can rest easy

— Way Too Indie (@WayTooIndie) September 12, 2012

Audience sat in stunned silence throughout credits of LEVIATHAN. Here’s a pic of the very shy directors #TIFF12 twitter.com/WayTooIndie/st…

— Way Too Indie (@WayTooIndie) September 13, 2012