Wild Men

"Martin" (Rasmus Bjerg) does a fine impersonation of a Viking chasing down a goat with a bow and arrow... Thing is, he's pretty useless and we quickly discover he's a fairly fair-weather hunter with a penchant for crisps and chocolate. Whilst he is foraging, a group of men driving along the road have an unfortunate encounter with a moose and believing his friends are dead, the injured "Musa" (Zaki Youssef) abandons the wreck and sets off for help. It's "Martin" who finds him and helps him with some home made first aid before they set off together to find his tent. Separately, we are aware that the police are after after the moose-manglers and when they apprehend "Musa", "Martin" intervenes making him just as wanted as his new friend and setting the scene for some daft escapades amongst the wilderness. What only makes matters worse is that his friends are still very much alive, and they too are on his trail - all for the contents of a sports bag! At times this is actually quite funny and Bjerg has a bit of comedy timing to him, but sadly the story rather runs out of steam and becomes a little too farcical as thugs, police and the pair reach a disappointing denouement. There is some glorious scenery to behold and the writing does delivery some fun from the characters' eccentricities - especially the familiar face of Rune Temte who's "Henrik" leads a village of real live Vikings cooking freshly caught meat over the fire (whilst their car is parked nearby). It tries a bit too hard, but is a bit different and worth a watch.

I don't speak the language (like many, I presume), so I hesitated with Wild Men, fearing I'd spend the whole film reading subtitles, which usually means missing out on the acting, facial expressions, and other visual details. Here, however, I really felt that it was all working beautifully, undoubtedly thanks to a well paced script and editing. I had a great time and despite the farcical nature of a few of the scenes (some of which are truly hilarious), the underlying stories of the protagonists are much deeper than you'd expect from the trailer. In hindsight, I think a strength of this film is that it knits a story that uses original aspects of the region (and not only the stunning nature and folklore but also how people interact with each other) while at the same time exploring universal themes that, to me at least, made it not only enjoyable but also deeply contemplative at times. I'll definitely watch it again!

No pun intended - you may go with naughty ... then again, is it nature? Is it circumstances? Also can we "evolve" back? And what would that mean? The first scene itself - well the first where we see our main character walk into a store ... he is beyond money ... beyond material things it seems ... and yet he needs stuff.

There are many things that show us that he is more than flawed. He tries things and he means well. And yet he goes way over the top - crosses multiple lines to say the least. Even in the beginning - you may find it funny (and it is a movie so it is ok to feel whatever you want to feel), but if it happened in reality .... well it would not be a cool thing to do. But again - movie, so accept it as a fun thing.

The movie is predictable from a certain point on - but the journey is still fun. The dialog is amazing too - especially the small town ... down to earth things that are being said. You totally feel the police men who don't want to walk in the forest or get wet ... again: in real life you'd hope they would take more pride in their job ... but comedy and movie and all that. I think by now you got it ... and it is funny ... so there is that.

It's a really interesting look into what I think a lot of people may be feeling and experiencing these days. Very touching. Beautiful scenery. A bit of dark humor. Would watch again.

Synopsis: In a desperate attempt to cure his midlife crisis, Martin has fled his family to live high up in the Norwegian mountains. Hunting and gathering like his ancestors did thousands of years ago.

The synopsis touches on the comedic aspect of the story, but really it faltered after about 15 minutes and became a drama with elements of black comedy.

Aspects just didn't work at all, like the couple in the car about half way though.

Nice to see Sofie Gråbøl 15 years on from The Killing.

Overall, I was a bit disappointed after a promising start. The elements were there for a good comedy, but it failed to deliver on that score.

Still better than a lot of contemporary dramas.