Madds Mikkelsen thinks something is fishy in the state of Denmark.

I'd say it's a pretty safe assumption that when the American public hears there is a new Danish movie out, they don't drop their infants and groceries in their mad rush to get the best seat at the movie theater.

As a general rule, I share the sentiment. I mean, sure, I liked Italian for Beginners as much as the next person. And okay, My Life as a Dog was pretty good (yes, I know that's Swedish, but seriously, can't we just lump all of Scandinavia together for movie purposes?). But still, I can't say that my first instinct is to go "Oooh, sign me up" when I see a Danish film on the marquee of my local indie house.

But as a critic, I don't always have the luxury of choosing everything I see. And a lucky thing, too, because director Susanne Bier's After the Wedding is making a strong argument that my instincts about Danish cinema are wrong wrong wrong. Bier cowrote After the Wedding with her frequent collaborator Anders Thomas Jensen (Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself). Evidently they initially set out to write a comedy, and hey-what is funnier than starving orphans in India? Obviously they quickly realized they were working on a drama, thank heavens, and proceeded accordingly.

After the Wedding tells the story of Jacob (Mads Mikkelsen, whom you may recognize from last summer's Casino Royale), a Danish man who works at an impoverished orphanage in India. Jørgen (Rolf Lassgård), a wealthy potential funder, insists on meeting Jacob in person before deciding if he will donate the funds the orphanage so desperately needs. So Jacob reluctantly makes plans to return to Denmark for the first time in 20 years. When he gets there, Jørgen invites him to his daughter's wedding, where Jacob discovers that Jørgen is married to Jacob's old girlfriend Helene (Sidse Babett Knudsen). And that's just the beginning of the complications.

Somehow, describing After the Wedding here doesn't make it sound as gripping as it truly is. I'm not sure if it is because of the language barrier that all the secrets that get revealed are really as surprising as they seemed to me, but the movie is genuinely engrossing.

You may not have heard of the actors, but they'll prove themselves to you very quickly. The rapport of the hardened Mikkelsen with the big-eyed orphan waifs is believable and touching, and he is able to do more reveals with just his eyes than you would ever imagine. Yes, there are a couple of parts that I felt were a touch melodramatic, but for the most part they were outweighed by an interesting, real, human story.

My verdict? Don't let the subtitles scare you: If all Danish movies are this good, I might start knocking over babies and bags of produce in my rush to get the best seats at the theater.

ReelzChannel Rating: 

Check out ReelzChannel.com's After the Wedding page for clips from the film and more!