Refroidis

"In Order of Disappearance" (2014 release from Norway; 115 min.) brings the story of Nils, a Swedish guy longtime resident of northern Norway. As the movie opens, Nils and his wife are getting ready to accept the "Citizen of the Year" award of the local chamber of commerce. Nils, who runs a snow removal equipment business, accepts the award with humility and dignity. In a parallel story line, we see a couple of young men getting kidnapped and one of them eventually dies. It turns out to be Nils' son, who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, getting mixed up in a local drug gang. Nils knows his son was not an addict and decides to look into the circumstances of the death of his son... At this point we are 15 min. into the movie, but to tell you more would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this is the latest movie from Norwegian director Hans Petter Moland in which he collaborates with Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård, who plays Nils. The movie was billed on Google Movie Times as a "comedy" and in a sense it might be one, but a very dark one, if that. I found the movie to be a so(m)ber crime drama, in which Skarsgård plays "Joe Sixpack" who is out for revenge of his son's death. Sure there are chuckles here and there, but to me the film resonates a lot more on the level of how an average guy turns out to be a systematic and determined revenge-seeker. The setting of the film, somewhere in northern Norway, is gorgeous, and the use of the snow blowers and snow removal equipment is almost balletic.

This movie is two years old now, and for some reason just popped up in the theater. I saw it this past weekend at the E Street Landmark Theater in Washington, DC. The matinée screening where I saw this at was attended very nicely. No idea why it has taken this long to get into US theaters, but better late than never I suppose. In the meantime I read somewhere that this movie is going to be remade by Hollywood, but without Skarsgård. Say it ain't so! If you are in the mood for a foreign language crime drama with undertones of a dark, if not black, comedy, you cannot go wrong with this. "In Order of Disappearance" is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Finally watched it last night. Instead, I got a film that quickly grew on me as the body count mounted (hence the Englsh title). An earlier reviewer said it was like Fargo, but I would add a touch of an absurd Kill Bill body count. At the end of the film I was laughing out loud. A great dark comedy.

Unassuming, snow ploughing, 'Citizen of the year', a man of few words, Nils Dickman (Stellan Skarsgård), goes on a vigilante kill crazy rampage, disposing of those mobsters responsible for his son's death, because a man must avenge his son... it's expected of him.

...and that's basically the plot in this quirky, slightly strange, somewhat dark, Nordic humoured movie. After a intriguingly dark and interesting beginning, the plot itself runs a little stale and begins to feel slightly familiar and rehashed. It's a shame, because a weak plot is the movie's only flaw. To me, it felt a little bit of a cop-out from the original premise of the 'ordinary man', that he could conveniently enlist the help of his criminally linked brother, in order to get the movie flowing again.

Nevertheless, there is a lot to take away from the movie, and, even if the plot falls a little flat midway, the characters and even the ambiance certainly do not! There is something so charmingly black in the understated Nordic tone that will keep you enticed - perhaps not loud roaring laughter, but certainly continuous rumbling chuckling throughout. The theme may be familiar, but it is told with a new ice veneer that is typically Norwegian in style, aided by the wonderfully droll backdrop of the mountainous countryside. Whether it be the in-car conversations between mobsters discussing issues such as differences between the welfare systems of cold climate countries as opposed to those of hot climate countries; or the face-off between the kingpin mobster, Greven (Pål Sverre Valheim Hagen) and his passively aggressive, coldly beautiful, ice-queen ex-wife, Marit (Birgitte Hjort Sørensen), these little scenes will most certainly keep you entertained and engaged.

The movie is certainly self-aware and has a little laugh at the quirks of Norwegian culture. This is no more evident than in the king-pin's home with its excessive and immaculate modernist furnishings. Scenes with Greven putting 'five-a-day fruits' ahead of business matters again epitomises the 'new world' of the Norwegian mobster. This modern society is put in stark contrast to the 'old world' of the Serbian rival gang where tradition and loyalty, the notion of an eye-for-an-eye, is paramount. Yet, even despite its odd quirks, the new world can manage to entice the old, with the Papa (Bruno Ganz), in the midst of his manhunt, opening up to new sensations on the cold mountaintop, vicariously experiencing the simple pleasures of the children as they ski down the mountain... and so the movie is perhaps also proud of its culture and origins, giving it a proverbial 'Fargo' feel.

Perhaps it doesn't quite attain the promise of 'high-art' it might suggest in its opening 20 minutes, but soon you learn it doesn't really need to. It's a quirky, superfluous little number that will give you fresh enjoyment on an old theme, and keep you quietly chuckling along, clucking like a hen, until the very end.

First Headhunters, now this.. The films that keep coming out of Scandinavia, and in particular Norway, are hard to beat. Headhunters was most definitely one of my favourites of last years and this is also very high on the list.

For me it's the (fairly) unknown actors, the absolutely shameless and inventive humor and I guess that beautiful landscape. And of course the great, very well known, Stellan Skarsgard for whom this seems like it's especially made for. He is perfect and such a great character that you will be rooting for him long after the film is finished. He makes the film, but it probably would have worked with another actor as well, as the story is so original and highly entertaining.

Absolutely loved it and can't wait to see it again. Hollywood: HANDS OFF 8/10

"In Order of Disappearance" is NOT a film for everyone. In some ways, I'd categorize it as 'Murder Porn'...a movie with many, many vivid and brutal killings...like a Tarantino or Guy Ritchie movie. And, like one of these incredibly carnage-filled movies, it's also exceptionally well made. But being well made does not mean it's for everyone....it is a really nasty story of revenge.

When the film begins, two guys are abducted and one is murdered. The other escapes and eventually makes it to see Nils Dickman--the father of the dead man. It seems that the guy who got away was involved with drug dealers but Dickman's son was completely innocent. Well, Nils isn't about to let go and has decided he must have justice--even though he's just one man against a gang of vicious drug dealers. It's funny, as Nils was just awarded a Man of the Year award...and now he's about to become a vicious killing machine.

Nils only has one lead and soon abducts this lead. He savagely beats and then murders the gang member after he learns the next one in the chain of command and does the same once again. After Nils kills his third gang member, the gangs take notice...and think it's a rival Serbian gang behind all this. Soon, it's all out war...and bodies are piling up faster than the audience can keep track of them.

This film is exquisitely directed and realistic to boot. But it's also blood-filled and violent...and I am talking about very realistic and hideous killings. I was actually surprised, as I just assumed Americans and Brits were the only ones making these sort of films! Well made...but please, please, please...DON'T let your kids, mother or Father O'Reilly catch you watching this film!