re:mote voices

Title: Reconstruction
Cast: Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Maria Bonnevie, Krister Henriksson
Director: Christoffer Boe

Reconstruction is one of those films that you end up seeing in a somewhat spontaneous and ignorant fashion. Knowing that I had the time and inclination to go and see a film I was standing in the ticket line with some idea of the options – but looking at the board I found there the film Reconstruction, which I knew nothing about. Upon reaching the ticket desk I asked about the film, where I was given a vague and brief plot description and told that it was Danish. Which pretty much decided it for me – 1. there is a certain potential to be had from what I’ve seen of Danish cinema; 2. a Danish film in a mainstream cinema is not likely to be one that will hang around while you try and find out more about it.

Reconstruction is a grainy film that knows that it is a film, the narrator playing around with scenes as he presents the idea that the story is a construct, and that even as a construct it can still, hopefully, have an emotional impact/relevance. Even once the film establishes the base idea and settles into the stream of “linear” narrative the viewer isn’t entirely sure that events are happening in the correct order. But in saying that, the viewer can feel a little reassured as whether or not things are happening, or in any particular manner is of far more concern to the central character Alex. At the film’s core there are four characters – forming two couples, although Alex and Aimee are the key to the plot.

Let us try and assemble a plot summary that works, to some degree. One night Alex is having dinner with his girlfriend and her father – Alex is restless and wants to get rid of the father, so he encourages his girlfriend to make excuses and goes to wait in the train station. Meanwhile the Swedish woman Aimee is in Denmark with husband who is here for work, while he has drinks with a work colleague, she decides to go for a drink. Thus Alex and Aimee have an encounter in the train station, which spins Alex around, so when his girlfriend turns up he makes vague excuses and goes in pursuit of Aimee. What follows is a series of encounters, during the course of which Alex is increasingly distressed by the fact that he seems to have ceased to exist.

Reconstruction is a playful head game, which adds a few tricks and gimmicks to underline the idea that the film makers are messing with your head. Aerial/satellite maps provide a sort of chapter heading, each time we get one we are provided with either Alex or Aimee’s name along with their current location, and at times both names and how close they are together in a spatial sense. The film is heavily grained, with at times the filters being cranked up to emphasize mood – the blues coming through at the start to give impressions of something classic and old, or the reds and oranges coming to the fore in Aimee’s hotel room bringing out the heat of emotions. Through everything Alex is performed perfectly, as the only character who remembers everything and is the target of any game that may or may not be being played against him.