MOVIES I LOVE: COPENHAGEN
I wasn't going to write about this movie just yet because it was no longer on Netflix and I try to write about movies that are findable on cable or streaming services, but as of February 1st my favorite movie of 2015 has returned to Netflix.
What movie is that you say? Well...
Copenhagen was one of those movies that looked interesting but not interesting enough for me to actually watch and it sat in my queue for months. Then one day it kept popping up and I noticed it had like 4 stars so I decided to give it a go and I am ridiculously glad I did. It instantly became one of my favorite movies of the year.
If you're wondering what it is I would categorize it as a love/coming of age story between Effy a 14 almost 15-year-old girl (which is important to the story because the age of consent in Denmark is 15) and William a 28-year-old man. I know the premise sounds a little off but don’t let it skeeve you out, I use the term ‘love story’ but I hesitate to call it that. If I had to compare the story and relationship to something my best comparison would be Lost in Translation.
The story centers on William who is in Copenhagen with his best friend and his friends finance so he can deliver a letter written by his father as a child. He meets Effy at a coffee shop and after an interesting encounter she decides she wants to help him and they build a relationship over the course of different adventures.
Watching the relationship develop between Effy who at times acts older than her years and William a man who acts more like a child is what makes the movie fun. We find out Effy's age early on and you spend the entire movie wondering how far this relationship will go. It pulls you back and forth forcing you to shuffle between rooting for them and thinking this is wrong, but it also makes you question why this is wrong because Effy is truly a mature young woman. She isn’t pretending to be an adult or suffering from some trauma that made her grow up too fast, she’s just someone who doesn’t connect with kids and I love that they made her that way because it makes you question why you feel the need to protect someone perfectly capable of making their own decisions. You want Effy to enjoy being young just as much as you want William to grow up a little, but you also realize that this is pretty much who they are and you like them that way.
Copenhagen is one of those movies that leaves feeling really good when it ends and it helps that it is such a beautiful film with great writing and solid performances. I hope you will check it out and enjoy it as much as I do. And stay tuned for more of these.
Later Friends
