Join the Boston Sunday Night Film Club this Sunday, Aug 1st at 7:30pm for Valhalla Rising at the Brattle Theatre . Look for Sean wearing a nametag in the theatre lobby about 15 minutes before the film. As always, after the film we will descend on a local establishment for dinner/drinks/discussion.
Acclaimed Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn (Bronson, The Pusher Trilogy) brings us this majestic and brutal arthouse Viking epic. For untold years, the fearsome warrior known only as One Eye (Mikkelsen, Casino RoyaleÂ’s bad guy and RefnÂ’s frequent collaborator) has been a prisoner forced to fight all challengers. He has defeated everyone he’s encountered, but is treated more like a fighting dog than a champion. The only person he has any relationship with is the young boy who brings him food and water daily. He takes the boy along with him when he eventually escapes and they quickly run across a new force sweeping the countryside and displacing the society’s leaders: Christians. Having no other prospects, One Eye joins up with a band of pilgrims who are setting off to liberate Jerusalem from the heathens – but the crew gets disastrously lost and ends up in a ‘new worldÂ’ that is utterly unfamiliar and hostile. A remarkable film that seems at once swathed in myth and mystery yet firmly rooted in the blood and guts of reality, VALHALLA RISING – and especially the outstanding performance of Mikkelsen as the completely mute One Eye – will entrance you and have you chomping at the bit to see more from this powerful creative team.