Actuakers One of my all time favorites.

TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Gary The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

filmalamosa To me this film was tedious and depressing until the trick ending which was like a catharsis for the hour and a half horror movie build up.A middle aged man takes a leave of absence from his job. He is unhappy and in a midlife crisis about the meaning of life.His childhood friend sums it up... "we had big plans but have to accept that this is all there is"He enrolls in an experimental antidepressant trial to help. Real changes begin to take place in his life with these pill but the side effects seem to be increased sex violence and erratic behaviour. There is the atmosphere of a horror movie--something really terrible is going to start happening.Then it is revealed that he was on a placebo (sugar pills) and all the changes in his personality and behavior were just part of him so to speak... you have this great relief.I don't like horror movies and since the first hour and half of this are like one don't recommend it.

HallmarkMovieBuff As any serious movie buff knows, existential depression is a recurring theme in Scandinavian film. Indeed, it's so prevalent, that it seems to rear its ugliness even when it's not explicit, but merely lurking in the undertones or dimming the landscapes.Bergman's gone now, but others have taken up the mantle. Levring's "Fear Me Not" is among those newer works which propagate the genre.Here, we have a middle-aged man (Mikael, a.k.a. Mik) on sabbatical, who finds himself at odds with his newfound leisure time. Almost on a whim, he becomes a test subject in his brother-in-law Frederik's drug trial for a new anti-depressant. Exhilarated at the increasing sense of freedom provided by the pills he's been given, Mik starts pushing the boundaries of his heretofore so-called normal behavior.The incident which kicks off this diversion in behavior is a brawl amongst the subjects waiting for their biweekly checkup. To his surprise, as well as to that of his doctor/brother-in-law/rowing partner, Mik participates in the tussle by punching another patient in the nose. To Mik's dismay, the rumble naturally results in the cancellation of the trial. Mik swears to Frederik that he's disposed of the remaining pills, but we know that's a lie. (What seemed odd to this viewer is that Mik was given a supply of pills to last much longer than would seem to be appropriate for a drug trial.) Relieved of regular appointments demanded by the drug trial, and seeking separation from his wife, Sigrid, whom we know is devoted, but whom Mik sees from his current point of view as increasingly controlling, Mik hies himself to his boyhood home in the country on the excuse that he's going to visit his mother, who is now in a rest home. Once there, Mik revels in being alone, and further tests his freedom by lying to a caller who's reached a wrong number by telling the caller that the intended recipient of the call has died.Liking more and more the way the pills are making him feel, Mik starts overdosing on them with no apparent ill effect. Calm and collected at all times throughout, with no indication of any abnormality in his interpersonal dealings, Mik's experimenting reaches a head when he nearly assaults a young woman who has asked him for a ride. Realizing that he's reached some sort of brink, Mik tosses the pills into the trash, only to retrieve them later, just as the trash man is about to dump them into the garbage truck.Back home, Mik decides that to regain control in his marriage, he must destroy it and rebuild it from scratch. Thus, he starts behaving like a subversive SoB, and eventually verges on becoming a homicidal maniac. In the middle of all this, as Mik is about to tell Frederik that he bedded Frederik's wife, Ellen, using the pills as an excuse, but really as the coup de grâce in destroying the relationships among all around him, Frederik tells Mik that Mik was on placebos during the drug trial, thus making Mik realize that his evil behavior was within him all along. What Mik does next is left to the viewer.This movie is well done all around: fine acting, expert directing, economical script with spare dialog, and beautiful photography. Too bad the subject is so somber. The film's greatest triumph, perhaps, is in making the mood of the audience match that of the movie itself: depressing.

TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews Hitchcock would be proud. The art of hinting within cinema is still alive. This doesn't spell everything out for you. The trailer for this does not do it justice. I was not expecting to enjoy this as much as I did. It is a film about discontentment, control, and the urges and thoughts lying just beneath the surface. I was pleased to find that Anders Thomas Jensen helped write this, as I enjoyed Blinkende Lygter(or Flickering Lights) and Mørke(also known as Murk), the latter in particular. I would say that you can tell that he had a hand in making this. I believe this is the first film by Levring I've seen, but I certainly am taking notice to his directorial style. Interesting choices are made, among other places in framing and cutting. The editing and cinematography are definitely worth attention. The story-telling is very subtle, and the use of narration does not become a crutch. The pacing is spot-on, it never moved too slow or fast. The acting is excellent, every single performance is beyond reproach. Even the kid, and that's not something that happens all that often. The use of music is good. This can be rather intense, and proper care is taken to build up suspense. There is a little sexuality including obscured nudity, as well as a bit of language and bloodless violence in this. I recommend this to anyone who wants the themes explored for 95 minutes, and/or those who dig a great thriller. 8/10

ReganRebecca Got a chance to catch the world premiere of Fear Me Not, directed and written by Kristian Levring, at the Toronto Internal Film Festival.The film examines the deterioration of the life of a man in his mid-40's facing a mid-life crisis exasperated by the fact that he has become addicted to a prescription medication with nasty side effects.Ulrich Thomsen dominates the movie as Mikael, a doctor who has recently taken a sabbatical from work only to find himself bored and at a loss at what to do with his time. On a whim he enters into a medical study examining the side effects of a newly developed anti-depressant. When he, and other patients, begin to exhibit violent tendencies Mikael finds that he is both unable and unwilling to stop taking the drugs. Fascinated by the positive outlook on life that he gains from the little pills Mikael finds himself acting out increasingly aggressive and violent fantasies on strangers and even his own family and friends.Ulrich Thomsen does great work here portraying the mostly docile and kind Mikael with great depth and persona. Even in the midst of acting out his most cruel fantasies Thomsen displays a sense of uncertainty and bewilderment at his own actions as if he, along with the audience, is shocked at the dramatic results that the pills have produced. Paprika Steen, in a supporting role as Mikael's wife Sigrid, turns a mediocre role into something exciting. Even small scenes, like when Mikael and Sigrid are playing scrabble, are filled with tension as we watch Sigrid drift between anger, annoyance and hurt as she tries to convince Mikael to go back to work.The cinematography is gorgeous and includes plenty of lush scenery. The editing really adds to the overall mood of the piece, the frequent jump-cuts helping to enhance the fragmented, jittery feelings as Mikael finds himself being splintered between two sides of himself.As a whole the movie is decent but a last minute twist in the final act turns the movie into full blown melodrama. Despite the histrionics of the final ten minutes and the rather disappointing conclusion told mostly through voice-over, the movie is still worth watching for Thomsen and Steen's performances as well as the enticing and astonishing build-up as Mikael goes from a placid family-man to a malevolent, abusive husband.Levring and Thomsen were actually at the screening and had a brief q & a afterwards. It was really cool, Levring talked a bit about his inspiration for the film and mentioned Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde which really came across in the way that the pill popping scenes were filmed and edited.