Copenhagen Cowboy You can stream it or skip it. The effort to blend suspense drama with an allegorical subtext has a mediocre impact.
Nicolas Winding Refn is returning with his latest project from his native Denmark. He is one of those hit-or-miss filmmakers that you may or may not enjoy. His art is undoubtedly not for everyone. However, Copenhagen Cowboy has the same strange, atmospheric vibe as his other films. —Drive, Pusher, etc.—and his 2019 Amazon series Too Old To Die Young.
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn
Cinematographer: Magnus Nordenhof Jønck
Cast: Angela Bundalovic as Miu; Andreas Lykke Jørgensen as Nicklas; Li Ii Zhang as Mor Hulda; Zlatko Buric as Miroslav; Dragana Milutinovic as Rosella
Language: Danish with Hindi and English options
The plot: Miu (Angela Bundalovic), a young lady, comes into a vast mansion outside of Copenhagen run by Rosella (Dragana Milutinovic), a Serbian woman, who presents her to the other woman who lives there. She’s dragged Miu in because she’s heard she has an extraterrestrial capacity to bring good luck. Despite her elderly age, her paramount desire is to become pregnant.
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn
Cinematographer: Magnus Nordenhof Jønck
Cast: Angela Bundalovic as Miu; Andreas Lykke Jørgensen as Nicklas; Li Ii Zhang as Mor Hulda; Zlatko Buric as Miroslav; Dragana Milutinovic as Rosella
Language: Danish with Hindi and English options
Copenhagen Cowboy; More shocking Miu facts
Miu is a teenage heroine who journeys through Copenhagen’s criminal underworld. She doesn’t say much, smile much, or do much. Refn is prepared to let significant portions of “Copenhagen Cowboy” linger on her expressionless face as things go on around her. Her character develops as the plot demands later in the series, but she remains a clean canvas for so long that any potential impetus is drained. Refn and co-writers Sara Isabella Johnson, Johanne Algren, and Mona Masri eventually give the blue tracksuit-clad heroine a supernatural twist, introducing her as a literal good luck charm acquired by a lady who wants to get pregnant and believes she can make it happen.
Except for a few combat sequences, Miu lives on another plane from what’s happening around her, a brave narrative choice that clashes with Refn’s aesthetic, which can already appear distant and far from reality. It wouldn’t be strange if Miu simply vanished in a moment or launched beams from her blank eyes, so the character has no interior monologue or explanation, which becomes tiresome. Most concepts in “Copenhagen Cowboy” seem undeveloped, and Refn repeats more than he reinvents.
Copenhagen Cowboy holds a 6.5 on the IMDb rating
Copenhagen Cowboy; Critical review
There’s little doubt that if you’re unfamiliar with Refn’s work and come into Copenhagen Cowboy blind, you could be annoyed by the first episode’s glacial pace. He and the writer, Sara Isabella Jnsson Vedder, laid out Miu’s plot in the first episode. The first episode’s plot isn’t all that difficult to unravel.
All the additional material surrounding the tale may be difficult for someone unfamiliar with Refn to grasp. Most of the scenery is impenetrably black, broken by bright flashes of color. The color blocks are extended to the apparel, including Miu’s jogging suit and Cimona’s patterned sleeping pants.
There are several instances in which individuals simply sit and look at one another. The dialogue is brief. Sven is presented as such a pig that when he has sex with Rosella, he makes groaning pig noises, and we hear squeals as Andre kicks the heck out of him. Miu’s “power” is entirely ambiguous. And Nicklas, the mystery man after the episode, yells like a carnivorous beast. It’s strange and sluggish, but Refn understands how to use those odd and languid moments to draw viewers into his worldview.
The strange and sluggish should blend in better with the tale as Miu becomes more embroiled in Copenhagen’s underground, finally meeting up with her “nemesis,” Rakel (Lola Winding Refn – Nicolas’ daughter).
Copenhagen Cowboy will never be a riveting psychological thriller; however, if audiences continue to watch, it should deliver a pleasing plot with plenty of atmosphere.
Copenhagen Cowboy is available on Netflix now.