A Flight of Rainbirds

Stars: Jeroen Krabbe (Prince of Tides, Robin Hood, Crossing Delancey). An earlier film from Danish director Ate de Jong (Drop Dead Fred), A Flight of Rainbirds broke boxoffice records upon its initial release in Denmark (which suggests that the Danes are pretty hard up for good movies). Jeroen Krabbe adds more respectability than is deserved to the dual role of Maarten, a 34-year-old repressed microbiologist, and his Alter Ego. The film opens with Maarten having a nightmare in which God tells him he has seven days to lose his virginity or its curtains. The next day Maarten begins ogling his comely assistant with new eyes, and it looks as if we're in for a little Scandinavian Porky's action. Not so. Maarten's bumbling attempts at romance give way to darker flashbacks of his Calvinist upbringing and unresolved Oedipal struggle. Instead of shower room scenes and locker room talk, we have Maarten's aging mother, who is slowly dying from throat cancer. It all adds up to a rather uneasy mix of the serious and the cheesy. A curious, yet uneven, black comedy. Audience: For those who are always looking for something different.