When we meet Christopher (Ulrich Thomsen) he has escaped his family's dour destiny. Not for him running its grim steel mill; he owns a restaurant and loves a pretty actress in Stockholm. Then his father's suicide forces him to return to the factory. And we watch helplessly as a good man turns into a moral monster. There are hints of Bergman in Danish director Per Fly's novelistically-developed, classically-realized, and utterly absorbing film.
Come fly with us, and Leo, through the best (and worst) of 2004. Tops in the cinema this year include Scorsese's Howard Hughes biopic The Aviator. Elsewhere, Deadwood was good TV, and a Strange tale fascinated readers.