> Flame and Citron
Director: Ole Christian Madsen
Cast: Mads Mikklesen, Thure Lindhardt, Stine Stengade, Christian Berkel, Peter Mygind, Mille Lehfeldt, Hanns Zischler
Rating: (R16)
4 stars (out of 5)
Reviewed by Mark Orton
It's not that easy to watch a Danish film without encountering Mads Mikklesen these days.
With actress Stine Stengade and director Ole Christian Madsen, it's as if the team from Prague just kept rolling and turned back the clock 60-odd years.
However, the one major addition to the team is also their trump card.
Thure Lindhardt as Flame, nicknamed according to a hair-colouring mishap (he never planned to be a ginger), is coolness personified.
Stalking the streets of a Copenhagen cloaked in über-noir shades of darkness the carrot-topped assassin, paired with the super-stoic Citron (Mikklesen), guns down Nazi officers and Danish informants.
The action quickens further when the two cowboys of the Holgar Danske Resistance begin to suspect there are rats within their ranks.
There are many moments during Flame and Citron when you are staring at the screen with no idea who the goodies and baddies are, such is the cycle of deception and counter-intrigue.
In directing one of the most expensive Danish films ever made, Ole Christian Madsen has made sure the money spent has ended up on the screen.
In bringing this "based on true events" narrative to life, the attention to detail is phenomenal.
Amazing to look at, every set-up is so well-handled that the main problem watching it is wallowing in the lavishness and wandering away from the intricate plot.
Best thing: The sumptuous nature of it all: even bullets piercing flesh is handled gracefully.
Worst thing: Lack of humour. It wouldn't have hurt to allow a little pathos to graze the script.
See it with: Patience. Things do take a wee while to heat up.
