Copenhagen Cowboy

[Drunk Monk]

Copenhagen Cowboy

I started to watch this eastern euro noir about a mousy stoic gal with huge eyes that’s a good luck slave for the criminal underworld. In ep 1, she’s owned by a an older bag, the sister of a family of whorehouse runners. After the second scene of ugly fat euro male ass pumping some woman (that astonishingly was fully covered), I bailed. Just not in the mood the that right now. Not sure I ever am. Not sure if I’ll come back for this. It looks like it gets better later - 6 eps at a hour each I think. For now, I’m passing the baton to whoever (cf) dares venture further here. Note that the dealbreaking ass scenes were all before the first half hour mark…

[cranefly]

For now, I’m passing the baton to whoever (cf) dares venture further here. Note that the dealbreaking ass scenes were all before the first half hour mark…

The baton, which I trust wasn't used by the fat guy in that one scene, has been dutifully taken up.

The series is directed by Nicolas Windig Refn.

It's a very slow burner.  I swear, Nicolas must've stood on set with a stopwatch and instructed everyone to wait 20 seconds to respond to anything another character speaks, which makes this seem even slower and drawn out.  But maybe that's just a stylistic choice, just like the skinny-girl protagonist remaining expressionless throughout.  I'm 2 episodes in, which is where DM bailed, but I might ride this turkey a bit further.  Hah, I said turkey when I should have said hog.  Yeah, there are hogs, and they promise to be a major plot point.  Sorry, Nick Cage.  You should have jumped into a role in this sooner.

Neat title.

[Greg]

Oh, good. I can take this off the list of shows to watch while the Queen is elsewhere.

[cranefly]

Ep-3 and Ep-4

Okay, skinny girl finally strips down and she's surprisingly voluptuous.  she shows a real talent for pole dancing and spends most of these episodes gyrating her heart out.

Okay, not so much.  In fact Ep-3 jumps the pig.  And Ep-4 doubles down.

At this point I might go into minor spoilage territory.  Be forewarned.

Skinny girl meets creepy guy.  He's weird-looking, strongly built but with a strangely feminine face.  Kudos to Refn for discovering and casting him.  He's a serial-killer psychopath.  Maybe a sociopath.  He tells skinny girl she has ten seconds.  He starts counting down.  She runs.  He chases.  Then suddenly she's confronting him in a building.  She stands very erect, because I guess that's her one stance.  She waves him in.   You know, the Bruce Lee invitation to get your butt kicked.   (If she intended to confront him all along, why did she run in the first place?) Whereupon he charges her, because nothing facilitates aikido more than a bull charge.  She aikidos him, sort of.  She aikidos him again and again.  Then she kicks him in the side and stomps his face.  He's thoroughly whupped.

A short time later she's confronted by three women.   They dwarf her (I doubt she weighs 100 pounds.)  They have knives.  They attack her simultaneously and she whups their collective asses.

There's a few odds and ends that are interesting, that contribute to a David Lynchian feel.  But they feel sloppy, and not adequately developed and incorporated.  And 90% of the time Refn relies on these slow pans, sometimes a full 360 degrees, that consume time and get monotonous--though sometimes the sets are interesting enough.  All in all, I think he should've saved money on the sets and hired a good Asian fight coordinator.  Maybe they could have made skinny girl look convincing in a fight.

I've taken to shouting, "Pigs in a blanket!" for no particular reason when skinny girl fights.  But there are lots of pigs in this series.   Lots and lots of pigs.

[Drunk Monk]

So if I was to jump back in, would you recommend ep 3 or 4? 

I don't like pigs.

[cranefly]

So if I was to jump back in, would you recommend ep 3 or 4? 

I don't like pigs.

Shout, "pigs in a blanket!"  Louder.  Sound more baffled.  That's it.  Now you're ready.

In all honesty, my critical faculties aren't that sharp these days.  While watching, I stand behind the recliner for support and do physical therapy.  I think I've gotten stronger laterally, but the improvement in balance is minimal.  But there's been a noticeable increase in my tolerance for watching crap.  Because I'm doing exercises, I'm more likely to stick with it.

But I'm reluctant to call this crap.  It's got a protagonist I'd never think of making a protagonist.  And Refn's emphasis doesn't seem to be on fight scenes.  He's seems fixated on exploring slow pans, to the point that it calls attention to itself.  It does provide a large canvas, and it occasionally does something quite clever.  All in all, the series is unique enough that I want to see where it goes.

At the end of Ep-4, the series seems headed in new and unexpected directions.

But I don't think I'm a very good judge of quality these days.

Finally, there is a lot of pigs--most of them associated with a Chinese restaurant.

[cranefly]

Finished it tonight.  And a big heads up.

While it wrapped up a few threads, it introduced a whole lot more.  If you're looking for completion, this is not a good one to pursue.

I wish new series would stipulate whether they will wrap up by season's end, even if they're fishing for another season, as a kindly gesture to viewers.  This did not come close to wrapping up.  As far as I'm concerned, it's not a complete idea.  It's a resume for getting more work.  There's more and more series of this ilk.