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Men & Chicken
Men & Chicken is a black comedy about two outcast brothers who, by getting to know their unknown family, discover a horrible truth about themselves and their relatives.
Release : | 2015 |
Rating : | 6.7 |
Studio : | Det Danske Filminstitut, DR, Studio Babelsberg, |
Crew : | Director of Photography, Director, |
Cast : | Mads Mikkelsen Nikolaj Lie Kaas David Dencik Nicolas Bro Søren Malling |
Genre : | Drama Comedy |
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Just perfect...
Fantastic!
Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.
The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.
You know from the start this will be great. Some movies take a bit to get going but you know early on this one is going to be wierd with some strange outcomes. Subtitles are easy to read.
I love dark, dry, and twisted humor. I love that sense of humor that appears to only reside around the North Sea (and partially in Australia to my experience). English, Danish, German - they all have a very dark, harsh sense of humor though each slightly different. The Danish always add this pinch of quirkiness and perversion to it, the English usually revolve around awkwardness, and the Germans often make it so hard that laughter gets stuck in your throat (although they suck at bringing it on screen). Toss the Germans aside for now, because this movie is a celebration of both awkward English and quirky, perverted Danish dark humor. I love it. It's simply a pleasure to watch, probably the same way some people enjoy a classical concert of some of Bach's or whatever symphonies. Though heard a thousand times by different performers, it is always a pleasure aesthetically. Like eating your favorite food dish once again.What especially pleased me was the performance of Mads Mikkelsen. I've been told that comedy is the hardest discipline in acting. Not only he, who is much rather known for very proper drama, does it perfectly well, it took me a while to even recognize him, and that is always a sign of a great actor. It reminds me of Bryan Cranston comparing his roles in Breaking Bad to Malcolm in the Middle. Brilliant acting. And funny, ow, ow, ow.A film not more than knee deep but well worth watching for the pleasure.
-Men & Chicken (Danish: Mænd og Høns) is a 2015 Danish comedy film directed by Anders Thomas Jensen. It was shown in the Vanguard section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival. It was one of three films shortlisted by Denmark to be their submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 88th Academy Awards.--Plot: -Two brothers (Gabriel and Elias), who are informed at their father's deathbed that they both are adopted, discover that their biological father is Evelio Thanatos, a geneticist specialized in stem cell research. To find out about their mother and to meet their biological father the brothers go to the Island of Ork where they find out that they have three other half-brothers (Franz, Josef and Gregor). Both Gabriel and Elias are welcomed with a beating but later the brothers get along ..
Anders Thomas Jensen has been known for spawning very creative stories, ones that are arguably designed for the absurd. Even if this is the case, there's an underlying genius to what he has created with 'Men and Chicken' (Mænd & høns). Whatever the idea might have been, it came together in the end perfectly.The story revolves around two brothers from Denmark who suffer from grotesque appearances and other mental issues that hinder them on a daily basis. While one brother, Gabriel, is a University professor who can't maintain a relationship, the other is the loose-cannon, Elias (phenomenally played by Mads Mikkelsen), who also has relationship issues and can't seem to go more than an hour without having to gratify himself.The brothers learn from their now deceased father that he was not their biological father, that the real one is a Geneticist who specializes in Stem Cell Research, fathered both men with different women, and that he resides on a remote island. While this excites Gabriel at first due to his assumptions that him and Elias could not be related, they embark on a journey that reveals their true family history. They find out that they have three other half-brothers who live on the remote island, and surprise surprise, they have similar features. While Elias is able to, say, communicate with the loners of the island in far less civilized methods, Gabriel attempts to help improve their ways of problem solving by talking and not by hilarious slapstick comedy beatings.It seems as if the story gets its inspiration from Kafka's 'The Metamorphisis'. So very "Kafka-esque" ('Mission Hill' reference). I'll let that idea sit with you. The film breaks the barriers of creativity in storytelling from both a comedic and dramatic perspective. It opens and closes as if reading a kids storybook, the musical score has a certain creepy feel to it, and the makeup and design all around was made to give the characters a worn down and dirty look that couldn't have possibly been any better.What was really fantastic about the film was despite the absurdity, the story really gelled into something of substance and quality. It told us that aren't able to choose our family, and that being different is the best thing in the world.The film ends on the note that every life -- be it creature or human, ugly or pretty, fat or skinny — is truly a small miracle. Things happen that are out of your control, and when you learn about what who you really are, it is possible to find comfort and acceptance. "For the very simple reason that life is life, and that the alternative is not preferable."