Nimmermeer

There're not many films around these days that could be described as sheer magic.

Nimmermeer - as I understand - is the premiere work of a young German director and it was made when he was still at filmschool. Alas! I don't want to know what we have to expect from this guy if this was really his first film!

The simple story revolves around a young boy in an ancient fishing village who must come to terms and start a new life after his father's gone. The storyline is linear, simple and one-dimensional - but everything else is pure magic. No film I've seen in a long time has so beautifully and imaginatively conjured up the spirit of childhood and innocence.

The young director has a firm grasp on actors and locations and supported by great camera work has created a unique and mesmerizing world. So if you're into haunting, dark, fairy-tale like images and Burtonesque atmosphere - watch it!

If you're looking for really touching little film, beautifully shot and crafted - this might be your pick. I was given the DVD of this little film by a friend. "Nevermore" is not the kind of movie you watch to just watch something. It's a little piece of art and full of hidden, beautiful detail that you won't see the first time you watch it. I looked for the director online and just saw, that he's made another film that looks promising. I am not an expert, but I have a feeling that we'll hear from this guy in the future.

In terms of storytelling I won't give away much, only that it's a really touching story about loss & magic. Enjoy...

Like others have said, this is a cinematographic masterpiece. It would be difficult to find very many other films that compare on that score. The camera work is excellent. The artistic elements are superb. Those parts deserves a 10. This by itself makes the film worth watching.

The acting was also quite good. I would give that part a 6 or 7.

Regarding the story itself, this is where some problems arise. As others have said, much was borrowed from other films, especially Pelle the Conqueror, but this film does not compare to that title. It fails to develop a story of similar depth, perhaps due to the short length of roughly one hour. One redeeming aspect is the attempt at a "happy ending" which is more "satisfying" than Pelle the Conqueror, but it still left me somewhat disappointed. So I give all those components a 3 or 4.

In spite of its flaws, I would definitely watch it again.

Nimmermeer (AKA Nevermore) tells the story of Jonas, a young boy who lives a happy, albeit impoverished life with his fisherman father until one day his dad fails to return from the sea. He is adopted by a well-intentioned but heartless clergyman and loses all sense of joy in his life. Can he learn to smile again? Only a carny freak holds the key...

Beautifully filmed with a fairytale aura, this is German cinema at its best. Aimed at older children (it's too psychologically scary for younger ones) this movie will touch the hearts of all ages.

The German dialogue is straightforward for anyone with a working knowledge of the language, otherwise English subtitles are available from opensubtitles.org

Bear with me a little, and you'll understand the following. Just read the rest, please.

Bille August, of Indiana Jones' fame, wrote and directed one of the Big Epics of Nordic cinema in 1986, "Pelle Erobreren". Max Von Sydow and Pelle Hvenegaard played the roles we (almost) see here played by Rolf Becker (Helge) and Leonard Proxauf (Jonas) yet, still a far cry from the original.

Around 1983, Ingmar Bergman spent more than 100 days of non-stop work shooting Fanny och Alexander, arguably the best film ever made. There, we meet the Ekhdals and, in particular, Alexander, who faces the trial and physical punishment for his sins by a priest (his stepfather), memorably played by Jan Malmsjö in a scene copied exactly, even the words (here in German rather than the original Swedish) for NimmerMeer.

A young and sweet Troels Asmussen, in August's film (Pelle), plays a rejected child who wants to leave "home" with the troupè that tours the village, who deeply resembles Tom Lass' character (Knut).

NimmerMeer is very well made. Beautifully shot. Illumination and camera work are outstanding, but the script follows so closely two very well known films, that even the names of people refer to them. It's much more Swedish or Danish in looks than German (wardrobes, actors, sets). And this is not just because all the names used on the film are either Norwegian or Swedish!

Some scenes use the exact same camera angles, wardrobes AND text used on the original films, so I couldn't call these "details" a homage to August and Bergman.

The relationship with The Death and dreams is a theme Alexander deals with in Bergman's story as Jonas does here almost with the same visual references and in the same "acts" as in Fanny och Alexander.

All in all, if this film is to be regarded as something original, it is not. If it was made to show how good a thing could be done as a beautiful project, it succeeded, but I'd recommend Toke Hebbeln (the Director) to credit the writers who gave life to these characters before.

Toke directed a short when he was 24. It's a beautiful, rare, strong, film that has a life of its own. Here, on his feature-length debut, I find something extremely rare in modern cinema: using other's script and, not telling the audience they're about to see some scenes of two films intertwined in a way you can think it's something original.