Imagine a world, in which everyone treats anyone nicely, no foul word is ever uttered, office bickering is nonexistent, and your boss invites the office crowd regularly to self-cooked dinners where you can chat about latest interior design styles. Everything is neat, pleasant - well, just nice. In other words: you are in hell. After being dropped off in the middle of nowhere, mid-thirties Andreas (Trond Fausa Aurvaag) starts a new job as a book-keeper in a small, clean city. From the beginning he feels foreign in this proper, impersonal world of superficial kindness, surrounded by pleasant but lifeless interior architecture and likewise colleagues. Food tastes of nothing, drinks don't get you drunk, no children anywhere; after initial steps of fitting in, Andreas searches for ways to escape the bland new world. He doesn't know where he came from anymore, but still remembers rich tastes, true feelings - anything beyond the non-committal flatline life he's leading now. THE BOTHERSOME MAN resonates ideas of Huxley and Kafka, but here the cruelty is the omnipresent noncommittal neatness. Unlike PLEASANTVILLE this is not about narrow-minded bigotry, more a fable of our urban free-world civilisation of fitting in. It mostly reminds one of the ingenious FIGHT CLUB scene, in which Edward Norton walks through a mock-IKEA catalogue. Spiced with macabre humour, this Scandinavian laconic tale convinces on every level: story, characters, and relevance. A true screen gem. 8/10.
72 Reviews
welcome to Oslo, Norway
strandedinoslo19 June 2010
First of all, forget all the Christian stuff (heaven, hell, purgatory). You are in Norway.
The director intended well to show it is shot in Oslo, it is easy to recognize the places. It is a sharp look at the values that rules the country and at the lack of sentiments and feeling of the Norwegian society.
Note that Andreas - does he arrive to Oslo by his own will - does not really has a job, but a place in the society that give him access to "happyness": - an apartment - a convertible - friends from the work place - a girl, who has only interest for kitchens - another girl who cannot say I want but only I may The girls are cruelly described, but again the 1st one is the typical Norwegian "witch" (sorry to use this word, I translate literally from Norwegian) and the second the everyone's girl friend; both are typical characters of the Norwegian society.
Andreas has other values, is sensitive and want to make choices: warm chocolate and children.
It is deep buried in the cellars of the old buildings of Oslo housing old people; the room at the end of the tunnel is a typical grandma Norwegian kitchen.
The soundtrack is Peer Gynt, almost the Norwegian national anthem, adding again to that lost paradise's nostalgia.
The final scene is shot at the house of common of Oslo and the people coming out of the building are meant to be the deputies or minister of the country and they tell Andreas that they did everything to make him happy, if I remember correctly, just before expelling him.
Although Andreas injures himself to show his feelings,the gore scenes may seem strange here but maybe the director use it to mock the conformity of the Norwegian cinema, as it has been mandatory for the last decade to show very violent scenes in almost every movie.
Is the bus also a typical character of the Norwegian society? I wonder because for celebrating the end of the studies , the Norwegian students have "party buses" this ritual marks the entering into the adult life, and Andreas coming from nowhere in a bus to this town. what do you think?
The director intended well to show it is shot in Oslo, it is easy to recognize the places. It is a sharp look at the values that rules the country and at the lack of sentiments and feeling of the Norwegian society.
Note that Andreas - does he arrive to Oslo by his own will - does not really has a job, but a place in the society that give him access to "happyness": - an apartment - a convertible - friends from the work place - a girl, who has only interest for kitchens - another girl who cannot say I want but only I may The girls are cruelly described, but again the 1st one is the typical Norwegian "witch" (sorry to use this word, I translate literally from Norwegian) and the second the everyone's girl friend; both are typical characters of the Norwegian society.
Andreas has other values, is sensitive and want to make choices: warm chocolate and children.
It is deep buried in the cellars of the old buildings of Oslo housing old people; the room at the end of the tunnel is a typical grandma Norwegian kitchen.
The soundtrack is Peer Gynt, almost the Norwegian national anthem, adding again to that lost paradise's nostalgia.
The final scene is shot at the house of common of Oslo and the people coming out of the building are meant to be the deputies or minister of the country and they tell Andreas that they did everything to make him happy, if I remember correctly, just before expelling him.
Although Andreas injures himself to show his feelings,the gore scenes may seem strange here but maybe the director use it to mock the conformity of the Norwegian cinema, as it has been mandatory for the last decade to show very violent scenes in almost every movie.
Is the bus also a typical character of the Norwegian society? I wonder because for celebrating the end of the studies , the Norwegian students have "party buses" this ritual marks the entering into the adult life, and Andreas coming from nowhere in a bus to this town. what do you think?
An interesting flick
pipsonite4 January 2013
Warning: Spoilers
I've watched this movie with people who like simple concepts and they all thought this movie was crap. I didn't really know what exactly to think until the end.
Spoiler here! The movie ends in a very cold place. And if you combine it with the city it kinda reminded me of Dante's hell.
The people in the city were all dead. It was a place in hell for those who committed suicide. That's why there were no children. And because he couldn't stand it there, he was put into the final circle of hell (which according to Dante isn't hot, but very cold).
If that concept makes sense I think this flick is quite a success.
Spoiler here! The movie ends in a very cold place. And if you combine it with the city it kinda reminded me of Dante's hell.
The people in the city were all dead. It was a place in hell for those who committed suicide. That's why there were no children. And because he couldn't stand it there, he was put into the final circle of hell (which according to Dante isn't hot, but very cold).
If that concept makes sense I think this flick is quite a success.
another view on Dante's inferno
psychoactivesound25 November 2007
The whole movie made me think of the first circle of Dante's Inferno, Where the souls who 'fool' themselves in believing that they are happy go to. They never realize they are actually in an inferno, but nothing is enjoyable, they just move on without any emotion. In that sense Dante thought that they the were in the worse part, as they would never actively try to change their situation. Nobody can die in that place, but trying to certainly does hurt. I am not sure if the writer based his story on this medieval manuscript or not, but the resemblance is absolutely striking.
I didn't enjoy the movie when I was watching it, as I was expecting a climax which never came. Nevertheless, it made me think afterwards and now I actually think it's a good film - it surely does stick.
I didn't enjoy the movie when I was watching it, as I was expecting a climax which never came. Nevertheless, it made me think afterwards and now I actually think it's a good film - it surely does stick.
This movie is so true
canadian_in_norway19 January 2008
I saw this movie yesterday and can't stop thinking about it. I moved to Norway four months ago, and have tried ever since to find the origin of the strange emptiness i felt. When I saw this film I was striken with the brilliant snapshot of this society. Yes, this is all true!!! I too found a great job with a great pay, and I live with my norwegian boyfriend in a nice apartment downtown. But, so far everyone I have met have left me with that tasteless, empty feeling I had never had before - this is what this movie is about. Dinner parties with nothing to say to each other but emotionless comments, long silences, no stress, a creepy calm, and frozen smiles of niceness. This Scandinavian nightmare is perfectly rendered in Den Brysomme mannen. See this movie!!!
Great, a bit stretched thin by the end, but great sensibility and feel
secondtake3 March 2012
The Bothersome Man (2006)
Of course this is weird. It's a surreal version of dying and heaven (or hell) is a little shack in the middle of nowhere that is a way to get a second chance. At something. Life, maybe.
This is a little like the crop of comic serious surreal movies in the last twenty years where you part laugh and part are gasping in appreciation for the reality invented. I'm thinking "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" or "Being John Malkovich" or even "Inception." And at first it's just a terrific experience, going with the flow, which is understated in broad expanses of deadpan landscape and people alike. Eventually you adjust to the newness and want a thread of meaning or something to carry it along.
And this mostly succeeds most of the time. Which is not quite like a brilliant knock you over film. Jump in and wallow with the main character, who seems to have some kind of free will but within an invisible restraint. I mean, taking a ride back to life for some kind of reappraisal, even if you know it's all a mirage, means maybe being radical and not a bit submissive.
Not for this Norwegian. The humor comes and goes, the logic certainly goes more than comes, but the mood, the charm and ease of all the characters is enjoyable, almost heavenly, in a weird not quite coincidental way. I would check this out. I know a lot of people will get bored in the first few minutes because the wry dry humor, the lack of dialog, and even the lack of anything quite happening will drive them batty. But you know if you're not like that, and can get into a "Paris Texas" or "Dead Man" or lightweight Ingmar Bergman sensibility. Try it. I liked it a lot, even if I got a bit restless by the last third.
Of course this is weird. It's a surreal version of dying and heaven (or hell) is a little shack in the middle of nowhere that is a way to get a second chance. At something. Life, maybe.
This is a little like the crop of comic serious surreal movies in the last twenty years where you part laugh and part are gasping in appreciation for the reality invented. I'm thinking "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" or "Being John Malkovich" or even "Inception." And at first it's just a terrific experience, going with the flow, which is understated in broad expanses of deadpan landscape and people alike. Eventually you adjust to the newness and want a thread of meaning or something to carry it along.
And this mostly succeeds most of the time. Which is not quite like a brilliant knock you over film. Jump in and wallow with the main character, who seems to have some kind of free will but within an invisible restraint. I mean, taking a ride back to life for some kind of reappraisal, even if you know it's all a mirage, means maybe being radical and not a bit submissive.
Not for this Norwegian. The humor comes and goes, the logic certainly goes more than comes, but the mood, the charm and ease of all the characters is enjoyable, almost heavenly, in a weird not quite coincidental way. I would check this out. I know a lot of people will get bored in the first few minutes because the wry dry humor, the lack of dialog, and even the lack of anything quite happening will drive them batty. But you know if you're not like that, and can get into a "Paris Texas" or "Dead Man" or lightweight Ingmar Bergman sensibility. Try it. I liked it a lot, even if I got a bit restless by the last third.
mental horror film describes it best
admin-90819 December 2006
I heard an interview with the main actor who said that the film was not intended to be a horror movie but he himself would describe it as mental horror. I strongly subscribe to that.
It is not clear why he travels to this place, but everything there is monotonous, no bright colors, no honest smiles, nothing personal. Everything is ordered and everyone seems to be satisfied living this kind of life. Our "hero" though from the beginning seems to be misplaced and feels it himself.
What makes this film so important and good is the remarkable similarity to life in many large cities or even countries nowadays. You have to function, you are not supposed to let your colleague know your weaknesses, you show off on your wealth, your car, etc., and most of all you lack the true love of life that children have. Naturally, in this film you see neither children nor old people - they simply do not fit in a society of strong workers.
I would recommend this film to everyone - and make sure that this utopia does not come true!
It is not clear why he travels to this place, but everything there is monotonous, no bright colors, no honest smiles, nothing personal. Everything is ordered and everyone seems to be satisfied living this kind of life. Our "hero" though from the beginning seems to be misplaced and feels it himself.
What makes this film so important and good is the remarkable similarity to life in many large cities or even countries nowadays. You have to function, you are not supposed to let your colleague know your weaknesses, you show off on your wealth, your car, etc., and most of all you lack the true love of life that children have. Naturally, in this film you see neither children nor old people - they simply do not fit in a society of strong workers.
I would recommend this film to everyone - and make sure that this utopia does not come true!
Surreal Norwegian comedy is provocative, worth seeing
Andy-29611 April 2008
This Norwegian film starts with a man jumping over the subway, apparently committing suicide. But the next scene shows him arriving in a lonely bus into a desert. He meets a man, and is shipped off to a mysterious city, where he starts working in an aseptic modern office as an accountant. The coworkers seem nice, if guarded, he soon meets a girlfriend, yet the city seems utterly strange, as food has no taste, alcohol doesn't make you drunk, and there's nary a children around. Is this a dream, or is he in paradise, or in hell?. While at times, the films looks as extended episode of The Twilight Zone (even at ninety minutes, the movie seems a bit long), it is quite thought provoking. The best scenes are those in which the exaggeration is minimal, as when the people engage in banal conversations about interior decoration, and recoil at discussing deeper issues. I always thought there was something inhuman in advanced capitalist societies, in the way they try to repress the basic urges of human nature. And this movie is best when it devastatingly critiques this life style. Unfortunately, the movie ends up a big long, and the director doesn't seem to know how to end it, but most for of the running time this is very much worth seeing.
how life will be in a commercials-type world
m-federico20 August 2007
Andreas arrives in a strange, inhuman place, where everything seems perfect. He's given a good work, everyone is kind to him and to everyone, and he really doesn't trouble too much even in finding a beautiful girlfriend. But in this no-named city Andreas finds soon that a perfect commercials-type world is really not a paradise. Really one of the better movies i've seen this year. The attractive plot is perfectly supported by a smart direction where every single component (cool desaturated photography; cold symmetrical design; unemotional acting; slow, highly controlled camera movements) helps in building an unique weird atmosphere that will keep the audience suspended until the end. A sarcastic, ironic, bitter comedy that made me laugh ant think, as only best films are able to do. Nothing new, probably, in the analysis of the modern de-humanizer civilization, but really a smart work with great surprising ideas that will hardly be forgotten from whom had the luck to see it. Simply beautiful the amazing scene in the metro underground.
Really well delivered simple idea that creates a horror that is chilling while also instantly familiar as "the norm"
bob the moo6 November 2011
A man is taken by bus to a stop in the middle of nowhere from whence he is collected and taken to the city and his job as an accountant in an office of other white collar workers, happily eating together at lunchtime and sitting in front of computers during the day. Soon he gets himself a girlfriend and they move in together, decorating their home and having dinner parties and small-talk. All is wonderfully happy and modern but yet something just doesn't seem right.
I was recommended this by another IMDb user who I have come to know as quite an intelligent young man and so I decided to go on his advice and give this film a shot. He also advised I come to it with as little knowledge as possible, so beyond his recommendation and basic comments on content, I knew very little about it. I was glad of both this advice and also the recommendation because this film is a great idea that is really well expanded and delivered. On the face of it the film comes over like it is a short film, so simple and concise is its idea and so oddly does it deliver a simple concept, but it is a feature and the 90 minutes goes by quickly and satisfyingly.
The film is built on the feeling that there must be more to life than the safe warmth that the majority of us in the Western world are used to and it really nails it in this regard. For the majority of the film we are of course allowed to feel our main character's sense of unease and pain at the lack of passion and spark in life, but this comes in the small moments – the alternative view is not over played to make this more obvious. Instead the "emotionless norm" is presented in a way that is entirely recognisable; interior design and wall colours are the subjects of discussion, bland office work pays for it all – and trust me that as a man in his mid-30's, this is something I know about! It isn't overplayed though – it is normal and familiar and as a result all the more chilling as part of the film.
By making the "horror" so very normal and so familiar in its polite banality, the film survives the later twists when things get more extreme and weird – because we are already with it as an idea. It does always feel like a short film though because the idea never really comes to a satisfactory conclusion and those looking for a big reveal or ending will be disappointed – however those fans of short films where the "idea" is the thing rather than the answer will be pleased (as I was). To me the conclusion was fittingly simple because it works well with the idea as this world of the others being a happy place as long as you all go by the rules and don't be an outsider – it also kept me on board that the film made "rebelling" so very reasonable – Andreas was only looking for something a bit deeper, more meaningful than the colour of tiles – and again this is a "rebellion" that many people will be able to relate to as well.
The whole film reminded me very much of short films in terms of tone and content but also of some of the rather odd films that the Cohen brothers have made in the last 10 years where the tone is a lot of the story. I really liked the direction and composition here – the film always looks "normal" but by having everything so very clean and lacking in chaos or untidiness, it does contribute to the overall feeling of this world of being passionless and only "happy" on a very superficial level. It is all very well done and I enjoyed its relatable oddness very much – and it is this sense of the familiar that really makes it work very well and at the same time produces the cold horror of it. A really great little film in the mould of a short, very simple but also very cleverly done. Thanks Danny!
I was recommended this by another IMDb user who I have come to know as quite an intelligent young man and so I decided to go on his advice and give this film a shot. He also advised I come to it with as little knowledge as possible, so beyond his recommendation and basic comments on content, I knew very little about it. I was glad of both this advice and also the recommendation because this film is a great idea that is really well expanded and delivered. On the face of it the film comes over like it is a short film, so simple and concise is its idea and so oddly does it deliver a simple concept, but it is a feature and the 90 minutes goes by quickly and satisfyingly.
The film is built on the feeling that there must be more to life than the safe warmth that the majority of us in the Western world are used to and it really nails it in this regard. For the majority of the film we are of course allowed to feel our main character's sense of unease and pain at the lack of passion and spark in life, but this comes in the small moments – the alternative view is not over played to make this more obvious. Instead the "emotionless norm" is presented in a way that is entirely recognisable; interior design and wall colours are the subjects of discussion, bland office work pays for it all – and trust me that as a man in his mid-30's, this is something I know about! It isn't overplayed though – it is normal and familiar and as a result all the more chilling as part of the film.
By making the "horror" so very normal and so familiar in its polite banality, the film survives the later twists when things get more extreme and weird – because we are already with it as an idea. It does always feel like a short film though because the idea never really comes to a satisfactory conclusion and those looking for a big reveal or ending will be disappointed – however those fans of short films where the "idea" is the thing rather than the answer will be pleased (as I was). To me the conclusion was fittingly simple because it works well with the idea as this world of the others being a happy place as long as you all go by the rules and don't be an outsider – it also kept me on board that the film made "rebelling" so very reasonable – Andreas was only looking for something a bit deeper, more meaningful than the colour of tiles – and again this is a "rebellion" that many people will be able to relate to as well.
The whole film reminded me very much of short films in terms of tone and content but also of some of the rather odd films that the Cohen brothers have made in the last 10 years where the tone is a lot of the story. I really liked the direction and composition here – the film always looks "normal" but by having everything so very clean and lacking in chaos or untidiness, it does contribute to the overall feeling of this world of being passionless and only "happy" on a very superficial level. It is all very well done and I enjoyed its relatable oddness very much – and it is this sense of the familiar that really makes it work very well and at the same time produces the cold horror of it. A really great little film in the mould of a short, very simple but also very cleverly done. Thanks Danny!
Dry and droll
Polaris_DiB8 December 2009
Warning: Spoilers
Grabbed my attention on Netflix Instant Play because it was only an hour and a half long (it's nearing 4 am here), and because it's Norwegian, which I wanted to follow up with Dead Snow and see what else the country is offering in international cinema right now. A droll and deliciously wry romp, this movie features a man, Andreas, who gets shipped out to some Purgatory of a Brave New World city, where everyone is happy and bland and food has no taste, nothing smells, and even sex loses its appeal. Driven to the edge by his lack of common senses, he feels nearly ready to kill himself.
After an hilarious botched attempt at latter, Andreas tracks down a man with similar complaints and the two discover a tiny, vagina-shaped hole in a concrete wall from which music emanates. The two attempt to break through to see what is on the other side, tracking a tiny bit of light they can barely see. But of course, in fantasy allegory land, desire and nonconformity are not allowed and the elements of the city operate to end Andreas' attempt at freedom and sensuality.
Jens Lien and crew create a simple, straight-forward movement to the story, one that flows well with its themes and moves along at just enough of a pace to keep from lagging. The similarities in other similar science fiction aren't worth enumerating, but still the movie has a unique feel and balances some very funny scenes with some pretty horrifying ones. I like the limited but effective use of gore in this movie, some disembowelment and flagellation that will get your heart stammering harder than The Passion of the Christ simply because it is so perfectly out of place from the gray-toned mise-en-scene. Trond Fausa Aurvaag is a dependably squirrelly actor who physically feels out of place from his surroundings, which works very well. Despite the fact that the concept itself isn't anything to write home about, everyone involved makes it work and the movie fully realizes its own world.
--PolarisDiB
After an hilarious botched attempt at latter, Andreas tracks down a man with similar complaints and the two discover a tiny, vagina-shaped hole in a concrete wall from which music emanates. The two attempt to break through to see what is on the other side, tracking a tiny bit of light they can barely see. But of course, in fantasy allegory land, desire and nonconformity are not allowed and the elements of the city operate to end Andreas' attempt at freedom and sensuality.
Jens Lien and crew create a simple, straight-forward movement to the story, one that flows well with its themes and moves along at just enough of a pace to keep from lagging. The similarities in other similar science fiction aren't worth enumerating, but still the movie has a unique feel and balances some very funny scenes with some pretty horrifying ones. I like the limited but effective use of gore in this movie, some disembowelment and flagellation that will get your heart stammering harder than The Passion of the Christ simply because it is so perfectly out of place from the gray-toned mise-en-scene. Trond Fausa Aurvaag is a dependably squirrelly actor who physically feels out of place from his surroundings, which works very well. Despite the fact that the concept itself isn't anything to write home about, everyone involved makes it work and the movie fully realizes its own world.
--PolarisDiB
"Heaven is a place where nothing ever happens"
fablesofthereconstru-128 August 2008
Warning: Spoilers
Where the heck is Andreas(Trond Fausa Aurvaag), exactly? Heaven? Hell? A parallel universe? When the bothersome man steps off the subway platform and meets an onrushing train, his next conscious moment occurs on a bus; riding solo, the newest arrival, in a dead netherworld where all the suicides go. Dressed as he was at the time of his sudden departure from the corporeal biosphere, Andreas is greeted by an official man, who processes and transports the bothersome man from the barren flatlands to a city, if the eyeballs work, is a dead ringer for the sort of urban landscapes that he once inhabited, if memory serves him right. Andreas retains the look of a sleepwalker in a trance, a man estranged from people and objects, struggling to find his bearings; at home, or rather, his assigned apartment; or at work, where the bothersome man is randomly designated as an accountant for an independent contractor. Havard(Johannes Joner), his boss, tells him, "You'll get used to it," which covers more than just crunching numbers, we suspect, in this world, same as the old world.
If life is meaningless, like French existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Satre said, the same can be said for death, as well. The subculture of office life might be heaven for one man, but it looks like hell to us, under the context that "Den Brysomme Mannen" operates on. To work in the afterlife, in essence, is to work for the rest of your life. The social intercourse among Andreas' office mates may pass as normal in the physical world, but death is a variable that creates estrangement in the viewer, as he/she now recognizes the drudgery of white-collar labor performed by white-collar laborers, who kill the hours with their inconsequential small-talk and designated jobs they perform during the course of a day like automotons, each and every day, seem irrational in its self-evident absurdity. To see daily life replicated in a speculative light, "Den Brysomme mannen" makes normal human interaction look like deadpan comedy, as quotidian life becomes a performance, which transforms Karl Marx's meaning of the word "alienation", because here, the men and women in the office, "do" identify with their labor, like actors in a play who conspire to make their fictionalized selves appear real. But the bothersome man never fully participates in the facade. He's always aware of the cracks.
From a wooden bench, Andreas witnesses the aftermath of a jumper, who impales himself on an iron fence while people on their lunch breaks walk on by, indifferent to his escaping intestines that create red splatters on the clean sidewalk. Andreas faces the same impassivity from his own co-workers after he purposely cuts off his own finger, with the hope that he'll feel the pain, on a paper slicer. He doesn't. It's just another sensation, in addition to being able to taste and smell that's lost to the bothersome man. This inability of being able to take solace in the simple pleasures, amplifies the bothersome man's need for love,where simple pleasures compensated for his loneliness in the physical world. At a dinner party, hosted by his boss, Andreas meets Anne Britt(Petonella Barker). They hit it off. He walks her home. She invites him in. They become a couple. He moves in. When they have sex, however, it's good for neither Andreas, nor Anne, who seems to get more pleasure out of interior design. Love is an abstract concept, another sensation that's unattainable in this world, but love matters to the bothersome man, so he tries again with Ingeborg(Birgette Lagen), a girl from work. "Den Brysomme mannen" deconstructs love by presenting its foundation as a series of gestures that require performances from both the man and woman. When Ingeborg doesn't elicit the same tender feelings for Andreas after his hyper-romantic gesture of leaving Anne Britt for her, this Norwegian film reveals its secrets about the prosaic, but odd city, with an open-endedness that's solvable, and offer up multiple interpretations.
Wounded by Ingeborg's apathy towards his avowal of love for her, the bothersome man wanders into the same subway station, stands at the same platform, leers at the same couple aggressively making out, and jumps. This time, he can't die. How can you die when you're already dead? Hit repeatedly by train after train, Andreas' face turns into ground beef; his body contorts in angles previously seen only seen in art. When the bothersome man realizes that love and death are out of his grasp, he seeks out the man from the club, who was willing to say what goes unsaid in this city of the walking dead. Which is: death, not life, has no meaning.
Getting to the bottom of the mystery behind Andreas' whereabouts drives the narrative, and to the filmmaker's credit, this enigma is satisfactorily addressed, in a scene that recalls Spike Jonze's "Being John Malkovich", when Andreas crawls through a tunnel in order to cross over into another world, like a newborn baby, which resembles the portal to Malkovich's brain that Craig Schwartz charges people to crawl through. Andreas' attempt to traverse the great divide presents a beguiling paradox. Since heaven and earth are literally separated by a wall, this vulnerable boundary acts as a perfect encapsulation of the atheistic belief that "heaven is a place on Earth". But at the same time, heaven is proved by the reality of a hell; the place that Andreas is sent to after being banished from the city of his destination.
If life is meaningless, like French existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Satre said, the same can be said for death, as well. The subculture of office life might be heaven for one man, but it looks like hell to us, under the context that "Den Brysomme Mannen" operates on. To work in the afterlife, in essence, is to work for the rest of your life. The social intercourse among Andreas' office mates may pass as normal in the physical world, but death is a variable that creates estrangement in the viewer, as he/she now recognizes the drudgery of white-collar labor performed by white-collar laborers, who kill the hours with their inconsequential small-talk and designated jobs they perform during the course of a day like automotons, each and every day, seem irrational in its self-evident absurdity. To see daily life replicated in a speculative light, "Den Brysomme mannen" makes normal human interaction look like deadpan comedy, as quotidian life becomes a performance, which transforms Karl Marx's meaning of the word "alienation", because here, the men and women in the office, "do" identify with their labor, like actors in a play who conspire to make their fictionalized selves appear real. But the bothersome man never fully participates in the facade. He's always aware of the cracks.
From a wooden bench, Andreas witnesses the aftermath of a jumper, who impales himself on an iron fence while people on their lunch breaks walk on by, indifferent to his escaping intestines that create red splatters on the clean sidewalk. Andreas faces the same impassivity from his own co-workers after he purposely cuts off his own finger, with the hope that he'll feel the pain, on a paper slicer. He doesn't. It's just another sensation, in addition to being able to taste and smell that's lost to the bothersome man. This inability of being able to take solace in the simple pleasures, amplifies the bothersome man's need for love,where simple pleasures compensated for his loneliness in the physical world. At a dinner party, hosted by his boss, Andreas meets Anne Britt(Petonella Barker). They hit it off. He walks her home. She invites him in. They become a couple. He moves in. When they have sex, however, it's good for neither Andreas, nor Anne, who seems to get more pleasure out of interior design. Love is an abstract concept, another sensation that's unattainable in this world, but love matters to the bothersome man, so he tries again with Ingeborg(Birgette Lagen), a girl from work. "Den Brysomme mannen" deconstructs love by presenting its foundation as a series of gestures that require performances from both the man and woman. When Ingeborg doesn't elicit the same tender feelings for Andreas after his hyper-romantic gesture of leaving Anne Britt for her, this Norwegian film reveals its secrets about the prosaic, but odd city, with an open-endedness that's solvable, and offer up multiple interpretations.
Wounded by Ingeborg's apathy towards his avowal of love for her, the bothersome man wanders into the same subway station, stands at the same platform, leers at the same couple aggressively making out, and jumps. This time, he can't die. How can you die when you're already dead? Hit repeatedly by train after train, Andreas' face turns into ground beef; his body contorts in angles previously seen only seen in art. When the bothersome man realizes that love and death are out of his grasp, he seeks out the man from the club, who was willing to say what goes unsaid in this city of the walking dead. Which is: death, not life, has no meaning.
Getting to the bottom of the mystery behind Andreas' whereabouts drives the narrative, and to the filmmaker's credit, this enigma is satisfactorily addressed, in a scene that recalls Spike Jonze's "Being John Malkovich", when Andreas crawls through a tunnel in order to cross over into another world, like a newborn baby, which resembles the portal to Malkovich's brain that Craig Schwartz charges people to crawl through. Andreas' attempt to traverse the great divide presents a beguiling paradox. Since heaven and earth are literally separated by a wall, this vulnerable boundary acts as a perfect encapsulation of the atheistic belief that "heaven is a place on Earth". But at the same time, heaven is proved by the reality of a hell; the place that Andreas is sent to after being banished from the city of his destination.
A good dark comedy!
reeves200218 July 2007
Warning: Spoilers
Bothersome man has just been commercially released here now and i'm glad because I love foreign films from Europe.This movie was unlike anything i've seen before.It was funny at times but very dark and a bit gory.It started out with a shocking opening scene and then started to get confusing but interesting.The scene with the dead man was very surreal and creepy.Nobody seemed to really notice the body or care. Trond Fausa Aurvaag who plays Andreas Is a very good actor and he had me laughing so hard.His portrayal was intriguing and I loved his facial expressions.It was nice to see Norway,what a beautiful country.It seemed Andreas was stuck somewhere between heaven and hell in that strange city and was meeting all kinds of peculiar people along the way.I'm not sure I understood what was happening in this movie but I guess it's open to one's own interpretation.
Even the great existentialists would fall a sleep in boredom to this
johnderek11 May 2008
Although quirky and funny in some points.
The film says nothing new and delivers nothing exceptional. Truly boring and entertaining. You can feel this movie trying to be important and insightful but never coming close.
I have been a Film festival fan for 25 years and this is a tragedy of film. All the great directors who can do this kind of existential angst with intelligence and insight would fall sleep and take a well deserved nap during this one. The acting is as good as you can get but there is nothing there to act out. The subway scene is hilarious I will give it that one. However the world of Ikea minimalism has been done too many times and this is just another one.
The film says nothing new and delivers nothing exceptional. Truly boring and entertaining. You can feel this movie trying to be important and insightful but never coming close.
I have been a Film festival fan for 25 years and this is a tragedy of film. All the great directors who can do this kind of existential angst with intelligence and insight would fall sleep and take a well deserved nap during this one. The acting is as good as you can get but there is nothing there to act out. The subway scene is hilarious I will give it that one. However the world of Ikea minimalism has been done too many times and this is just another one.
Big metaphysical stuff: Adreas seems to be in hell or heaven, but, unlike Sartre's, this one has an exit (yawn)
roland-1045 February 2007
Warning: Spoilers
Trond Fausa Aurvaag stars as Andreas, a solitary 40 year old man who opens this film by leaping to his death under an oncoming subway train (we hear a gruesome crunch, not the last of these we'll confront). We next find him, bearded and disheveled, arriving as the lone passenger on a bus that delivers him to a forlorn old gas station in the middle of a barren high plain reminiscent of U.S. Great Basin country, though presumably it's shot in Norway or Iceland. So, this is a flashback, right? Well, not so fast, there. Seems more like a flash forward the more we learn. Everyone's expecting him: the old man who takes him from the desert to a posh contemporary apartment house in a city full of pale gray blue modern buildings, at its center, surrounded by older urban neighborhoods. In the closet of his apartment is a complete wardrobe of clothes that fit him. He asks what job he has been assigned and is told he will be an accountant in a large downtown firm. He cleans up, shaves and arrives for work next morning, where he is warmly greeted by everyone, and starts to work as if he has all the requisite skills for the job.
He meets various people over the next weeks, takes a lover, relaxes. But there are unsettling aspects to his new life, for that is what it appears to be. Alcohol no longer makes him or anyone else high. Food looks great but has little flavor. Even sex, while easily available, seems bland . The women he takes up with seem more interested in the quarters they live in, and his ability to provide for them materially, than they are in him.
Horrid events occur: he sees a suicidal man, now dead, impaled on a sharp edged wrought iron fence. At the office, on impulse, he slices off his finger in an automated paper cutter. People seem to take such occurrences in stride, showing little or no affect. There are uniformed attendants in gray blue jumpsuits, driving gray blue minivans, who calmly, mutely service people like these. When they take Andreas home and he unwraps the dressing from the stump of his finger he finds it (magically) whole again, without a trace of trauma. Hmmmmm.
Things go on like this. Andreas attempts suicide again in the local subway but, while battered terribly (over the course of a night, he's hit and dragged by three different trains), he is able to walk away. Bloodied and looking like a cadaver when he returns to his lover's house, she merely smiles and mentions they have been invited to friends' for dinner later in the week. Hmmmmm.
Later he discovers an underground shaft that appears to lead to another world. He and an associate blast a tunnel but, just short of his goal of escape from this bizarre dystopia, the men in gray blue arrive, drag the two away, seal up the tunnel, but immediately release the men without incarceration, trial or any other punishment than enforcement of their unwanted stay in this odd paradise.
But Andreas continues to be bothersome. He acts unhappy, which turns out to be the worst offense here, one that in time leads him to be expelled from the community. He's taken back to the desert, forced into the cargo bay of the bus, and driven away. At some point the bus stops, Andreas kicks the door open, and disappears into a white, featureless expanse marked by howling winds, like the middle of a blizzard. The bus pulls away, the screen fades to final darkness.
There you have it. I strongly disliked the film, and more than once had to resist the urge to leave, though it does hang together, and its protagonist is a mildly interesting character. This film will certainly be a candidate for my annual Metaphysical Melange Award. What we seem to have here is purgatory, or hell, or heaven, a nether world where you go after death but where, unlike in Sartre's formulation, there is indeed an exit. My grades: 5/10 (C) (Seen on 02/02/07)
He meets various people over the next weeks, takes a lover, relaxes. But there are unsettling aspects to his new life, for that is what it appears to be. Alcohol no longer makes him or anyone else high. Food looks great but has little flavor. Even sex, while easily available, seems bland . The women he takes up with seem more interested in the quarters they live in, and his ability to provide for them materially, than they are in him.
Horrid events occur: he sees a suicidal man, now dead, impaled on a sharp edged wrought iron fence. At the office, on impulse, he slices off his finger in an automated paper cutter. People seem to take such occurrences in stride, showing little or no affect. There are uniformed attendants in gray blue jumpsuits, driving gray blue minivans, who calmly, mutely service people like these. When they take Andreas home and he unwraps the dressing from the stump of his finger he finds it (magically) whole again, without a trace of trauma. Hmmmmm.
Things go on like this. Andreas attempts suicide again in the local subway but, while battered terribly (over the course of a night, he's hit and dragged by three different trains), he is able to walk away. Bloodied and looking like a cadaver when he returns to his lover's house, she merely smiles and mentions they have been invited to friends' for dinner later in the week. Hmmmmm.
Later he discovers an underground shaft that appears to lead to another world. He and an associate blast a tunnel but, just short of his goal of escape from this bizarre dystopia, the men in gray blue arrive, drag the two away, seal up the tunnel, but immediately release the men without incarceration, trial or any other punishment than enforcement of their unwanted stay in this odd paradise.
But Andreas continues to be bothersome. He acts unhappy, which turns out to be the worst offense here, one that in time leads him to be expelled from the community. He's taken back to the desert, forced into the cargo bay of the bus, and driven away. At some point the bus stops, Andreas kicks the door open, and disappears into a white, featureless expanse marked by howling winds, like the middle of a blizzard. The bus pulls away, the screen fades to final darkness.
There you have it. I strongly disliked the film, and more than once had to resist the urge to leave, though it does hang together, and its protagonist is a mildly interesting character. This film will certainly be a candidate for my annual Metaphysical Melange Award. What we seem to have here is purgatory, or hell, or heaven, a nether world where you go after death but where, unlike in Sartre's formulation, there is indeed an exit. My grades: 5/10 (C) (Seen on 02/02/07)
Hotel Scandanavia
paul2001sw-129 July 2008
A man arrives in a strange, beautiful, sterile city where no-one feels any emotion and obsesses instead about interior design. The essential sameness of his days is reminiscent of 'Groundhog Day'; the strange passages in and out of this world more remind one of 'Being John Malkovich'. But truly, this is a Scandanavian movie, a piece of self-satire that is also Scandanavian in style: the tone is austere, and even the most fantastic scenes are played straight, daring you to laugh at the absurdity. To my mind, the combination isn't wholly successful: there aren't enough genuine laughs to compensate for the difficulties of taking the piece as pure drama. It certainly is original; perhaps my problem is that the world that it satirises is not one that I recognise. Perhaps I should move to Scandanavia!
Superb and imaginative film with a singular vision
bobcrayhon9 June 2007
One of the best films I've seen in a long time, precise in its vision, and beautiful and highly imaginative in its realization. I can't say much without giving it away, and I don't recommend you actually read that much about this movie before seeing--just see it.
But ah, one must come up with ten lines of text to have a review listed on IMDb. Conundrum. What can I do? Tell you about the film? Nope. Can't do it. I think I enjoyed this movie precisely because saw it with no preconceptions. Please you do the same.
I suppose this can be said: the acting is excellent and understated, and what I have come to love about foreign movies is that the movies are actually about the MOVIES, not the stars.
But ah, one must come up with ten lines of text to have a review listed on IMDb. Conundrum. What can I do? Tell you about the film? Nope. Can't do it. I think I enjoyed this movie precisely because saw it with no preconceptions. Please you do the same.
I suppose this can be said: the acting is excellent and understated, and what I have come to love about foreign movies is that the movies are actually about the MOVIES, not the stars.
Nordic Film
troche-55 March 2010
The Bothersome Man is a smart, surreal movie that makes you reevaluate what you're doing with your life and what makes you tick. When you see these people in zombie like trances doing everyday events and realize that's what we do and what we want in real life it really hits close to home. This is a surprisingly effective movie that at the end leaves you asking questions about your direction and not so much the movie.
Andreas is the main character whose life we get a 3rd person view of as he tries to adapt to a new life after being relocated. In the beginning he seems to be the most popular guy in town as everyone at work caters to him and he's invited to dinners etc. A good example of this is in the scene with his new boss who offers him an envelope of an unspecified amount of cash saying "here's a little something to get you started". Andreas even gets a girlfriend 20 minutes into the movie, which he eventually moves in with. This seems like an ideal living situation as his girlfriend is an established interior designer, attractive, and doesn't ever nag about anything he does. But Andreas is unfulfilled with their relationship as with everything else in this world. He then begins an affair with a coworker named Ingeborg who he eventually leaves Anne for and claims he is in love with. After telling Ingeborg how he feels she tells him that she is also seeing other coworkers and says all of the relationships are "nice". Soon after we see Andreas at a train station where he tries to end his misery and to the audience's disappointment doesn't come about. Still looking for salvation Andreas meets Hugo who has found a hole which music can be heard coming out of. So they embark on a mission to get to the other side, will it be better or will it be worse?
"The Bothersome Man" shows us society's obsession with appearances and its materialistic mindset. It does a great job making fun of us by filling homes with IKEA products that the characters spend each lunch picking out. I think he is mostly poking fun at the dull Scandinavian society and its high suicide rates. For example there is a scene in the movie where Andreas comes across a man who jumped out of a building and onto a spiked fence. Also, Andreas fed up with this world cuts his finger off and then later jumps in front of a train; this is one of the most weirdest/outrageous scenes I've seen. This world created by Lien is equivalent to purgatory where there is no punishment or reward. In this world drink after drink Andreas never got drunk, sex was unfulfilling, and no matter how many times he tried he couldn't kill himself. This movie reminded me of "Fight Club" and how both main characters were kind of out of sync with the world around them. In "Fight Club" Tyler Durden creates a second persona that does everything he wouldn't and in this movie the awakened Andreas is the equivalent to Tyler Durden. After a while he wakes up and tries to escape the bland life he is now apart of by escaping through a hole in a wall.
Lien does a great job with continuity in this movie meaning when a character has a half full cup in his hand and they cut away then come back they have the glass in the same hand and its not full or empty showing that the shot was done another day. Nowadays directors are more worried about the sound effects and overlook the little things like is that character wearing the bracelet on the same hand as yesterdays filming? Since I took TV Production for three years in high school it's hard for me not to look for continuity or voice overs which drive me nuts. Lien does the little things well he's got great lighting in each shot, never leaves you wondering why something is in a shot and brings about an interesting topic. This film really worked for me because it not only mocks Scandinavians' but the western society and what's wrong with it. The only real issue I had was with the man who commits suicide by jumping on a spiked fence. Because you eventually find out this world has no death but he laid motionless forcing you to assume he was dead and this never gets answered in my opinion.
Andreas is the only main character as others come and go and never do more than support his him. His first girlfriend Anne Britt is an interior designer who at the surface seems perfect for him but eventually turns out to be dull. This leads him to Ingeborg who he starts an affair with and falls in love with. He soon finds out that she was with a handful of other men and that what he felt was not real. Andreas eventually meets Hugo in the bathroom of a bar complaining about how nothing tastes good anymore and how he can't even get drunk anymore. He follows Hugo home to find the hole in the wall with that is filled with children's laughter and birds chirping.
Lien doesn't have a lot on the resume but "The Bothersome Man" is more than a jump start to a great career but a preview of an up and coming director. If this is any indication of his talent and potential as a story teller, Lien has a bright future and we can only hope that his future movies don't take so long to make it overseas for our viewing pleasure. So take a seat and enjoy the ride as Director Jens Lien takes you from the comfort of your home to the dreamlike world that is "The Bothersome Man".
Andreas is the main character whose life we get a 3rd person view of as he tries to adapt to a new life after being relocated. In the beginning he seems to be the most popular guy in town as everyone at work caters to him and he's invited to dinners etc. A good example of this is in the scene with his new boss who offers him an envelope of an unspecified amount of cash saying "here's a little something to get you started". Andreas even gets a girlfriend 20 minutes into the movie, which he eventually moves in with. This seems like an ideal living situation as his girlfriend is an established interior designer, attractive, and doesn't ever nag about anything he does. But Andreas is unfulfilled with their relationship as with everything else in this world. He then begins an affair with a coworker named Ingeborg who he eventually leaves Anne for and claims he is in love with. After telling Ingeborg how he feels she tells him that she is also seeing other coworkers and says all of the relationships are "nice". Soon after we see Andreas at a train station where he tries to end his misery and to the audience's disappointment doesn't come about. Still looking for salvation Andreas meets Hugo who has found a hole which music can be heard coming out of. So they embark on a mission to get to the other side, will it be better or will it be worse?
"The Bothersome Man" shows us society's obsession with appearances and its materialistic mindset. It does a great job making fun of us by filling homes with IKEA products that the characters spend each lunch picking out. I think he is mostly poking fun at the dull Scandinavian society and its high suicide rates. For example there is a scene in the movie where Andreas comes across a man who jumped out of a building and onto a spiked fence. Also, Andreas fed up with this world cuts his finger off and then later jumps in front of a train; this is one of the most weirdest/outrageous scenes I've seen. This world created by Lien is equivalent to purgatory where there is no punishment or reward. In this world drink after drink Andreas never got drunk, sex was unfulfilling, and no matter how many times he tried he couldn't kill himself. This movie reminded me of "Fight Club" and how both main characters were kind of out of sync with the world around them. In "Fight Club" Tyler Durden creates a second persona that does everything he wouldn't and in this movie the awakened Andreas is the equivalent to Tyler Durden. After a while he wakes up and tries to escape the bland life he is now apart of by escaping through a hole in a wall.
Lien does a great job with continuity in this movie meaning when a character has a half full cup in his hand and they cut away then come back they have the glass in the same hand and its not full or empty showing that the shot was done another day. Nowadays directors are more worried about the sound effects and overlook the little things like is that character wearing the bracelet on the same hand as yesterdays filming? Since I took TV Production for three years in high school it's hard for me not to look for continuity or voice overs which drive me nuts. Lien does the little things well he's got great lighting in each shot, never leaves you wondering why something is in a shot and brings about an interesting topic. This film really worked for me because it not only mocks Scandinavians' but the western society and what's wrong with it. The only real issue I had was with the man who commits suicide by jumping on a spiked fence. Because you eventually find out this world has no death but he laid motionless forcing you to assume he was dead and this never gets answered in my opinion.
Andreas is the only main character as others come and go and never do more than support his him. His first girlfriend Anne Britt is an interior designer who at the surface seems perfect for him but eventually turns out to be dull. This leads him to Ingeborg who he starts an affair with and falls in love with. He soon finds out that she was with a handful of other men and that what he felt was not real. Andreas eventually meets Hugo in the bathroom of a bar complaining about how nothing tastes good anymore and how he can't even get drunk anymore. He follows Hugo home to find the hole in the wall with that is filled with children's laughter and birds chirping.
Lien doesn't have a lot on the resume but "The Bothersome Man" is more than a jump start to a great career but a preview of an up and coming director. If this is any indication of his talent and potential as a story teller, Lien has a bright future and we can only hope that his future movies don't take so long to make it overseas for our viewing pleasure. So take a seat and enjoy the ride as Director Jens Lien takes you from the comfort of your home to the dreamlike world that is "The Bothersome Man".
Outstanding
mcswain-111 October 2006
Totally different, with loads of understatement and black comedy, this is a film few get to see, but those who do will remember it. This movie creates its own universe, and is fascinating in every way. What it is about? Estrangement, I believe. Probably up to the viewer, but I found that this movie tries to say something about the coldness and emptiness behind all the designer furniture and perfect facades. Don't know if I'm right. But this movie really got to me. See it. I really hope the team behind this movie makes more movies, and that they will continue to do so in their own, some kinda weird style. And I forgot: The Casting here i superb, with Trond Fausa Aurvåg being perfect in the role as the Bothersome Man, who doesn't understand where he is, what he is doing and why. The acknowledgment of not understanding the purpose of life (in the city), is what makes him bothersome. All the others do as they are told, and pretend (?) to be happy. This movie is a good and humorous comment on life in 2006.
If you like Kafka you'll love The Bothersome Man
stenemo8810 January 2010
The basics of this movie in my view is to show the worst nightmare of all human societies - where everyone live rich lives, but everyone seem to be like robots without any emotions. The protagonist shows us around in the world, similar to how Kafka shows his worlds, though this one is not at all as odd as Kafka.
Bottom line is: if you like to see dystopia movies, enjoyed Kafka, etc. you'll probably like this one. If you don't you'll probably be a bit bored and feel that the movie is blown out of proportion, it's just another dystopia, and basically a world of robots, nothing new about humans need for social interactions nor their constant dissatisfaction with their life (grass is always greener mentality) you'd say. And you'd be right
Bottom line is: if you like to see dystopia movies, enjoyed Kafka, etc. you'll probably like this one. If you don't you'll probably be a bit bored and feel that the movie is blown out of proportion, it's just another dystopia, and basically a world of robots, nothing new about humans need for social interactions nor their constant dissatisfaction with their life (grass is always greener mentality) you'd say. And you'd be right
Wonderful film
hartufs15 November 2006
I think this is the best Norwegian movie I've ever seen. It's about 40-year old Andreas who gets hit by a subway-train, and suddenly finds himself in a strange city, however, everything here has been made ready for him. He has got a job, a house and clothes. At first, this city seems perfect, no death, no pain and no problems. Everywhere there are men in gray suits who cleans up and fixes everything that doesn't fit into their definition of perfect. However Andreas can't really seem to fit in and starts to long back to his old world, and tries with all means to get back.
The thing that impresses my the most in this movie is how they way of making the city seem so surrealistic, even though I have seen a lot of these places in real life they seem so distant. Another thing that contributes greatly to the is the performance from the actors. Trond Fausa Aurvaag is just the perfect guy to play the confused and bothersome Andreas. And all the other characters are also doing a great job by playing apathetic (sounds like a hard job, doesn't it?). The strong difference between Andreas and the others leads to very amusing situations as well.
All in all, this is a fabulous movie. The plot may be a little confusing, but the movie has such a great atmosphere I would recommend that everyone should go see it.
And I wouldn't recommend listening to "ccscd212", as it seems he has seen too many commercial American movies and seems to have became too used to just getting served the moral on a silver plate. The way I see it there is not much in this film that tries to tell us about suicide being right or wrong. I consider it more of a warning of a direction our society seems to be taking. But sure, everyone can see a film in their own way.
The thing that impresses my the most in this movie is how they way of making the city seem so surrealistic, even though I have seen a lot of these places in real life they seem so distant. Another thing that contributes greatly to the is the performance from the actors. Trond Fausa Aurvaag is just the perfect guy to play the confused and bothersome Andreas. And all the other characters are also doing a great job by playing apathetic (sounds like a hard job, doesn't it?). The strong difference between Andreas and the others leads to very amusing situations as well.
All in all, this is a fabulous movie. The plot may be a little confusing, but the movie has such a great atmosphere I would recommend that everyone should go see it.
And I wouldn't recommend listening to "ccscd212", as it seems he has seen too many commercial American movies and seems to have became too used to just getting served the moral on a silver plate. The way I see it there is not much in this film that tries to tell us about suicide being right or wrong. I consider it more of a warning of a direction our society seems to be taking. But sure, everyone can see a film in their own way.
Nice picture of western corporate culture
alexeykorovin22 August 2012
Warning: Spoilers
Enjoyable movie, well worth watching.
The good:
1) dry humor which is quite fresh after all those Hollywood comedies
2) many hilarious moments, I was laughing thru most of the movie
3) the violent scenes were absolutely amazing, especially the one where the street cleaners were trying to take off the corpse from the spiked fence
4) lots of details which make it very believable. Although I live in Germany and not in Norway, the co-workers of the main character where very similar to the typical officer workers you find in Germany
The bad:
1) the movie is too long, many static scenes. You have already understood what the author wanted to say, but the scene stays there for 10 seconds more. Such seconds add up to minutes and you get a film 2-3 times longer than it should have been
2) the ending was a disappointment. It looked as if the movie was just cut at some point, since there was no finale, no conclusion and no twist or anything interesting at the end
3) actually the idea of criticizing the middle class is very old, so the film brings really nothing new, even though it's still entertaining
4) at some places the satire was just too absurd to even be funny, e.g. the scene where the main character stands fully covered in blood and his girlfriend talks about the weekend
The good:
1) dry humor which is quite fresh after all those Hollywood comedies
2) many hilarious moments, I was laughing thru most of the movie
3) the violent scenes were absolutely amazing, especially the one where the street cleaners were trying to take off the corpse from the spiked fence
4) lots of details which make it very believable. Although I live in Germany and not in Norway, the co-workers of the main character where very similar to the typical officer workers you find in Germany
The bad:
1) the movie is too long, many static scenes. You have already understood what the author wanted to say, but the scene stays there for 10 seconds more. Such seconds add up to minutes and you get a film 2-3 times longer than it should have been
2) the ending was a disappointment. It looked as if the movie was just cut at some point, since there was no finale, no conclusion and no twist or anything interesting at the end
3) actually the idea of criticizing the middle class is very old, so the film brings really nothing new, even though it's still entertaining
4) at some places the satire was just too absurd to even be funny, e.g. the scene where the main character stands fully covered in blood and his girlfriend talks about the weekend
Beautiful film in message and in production!
jburnha17 January 2007
What we have here is a film perfect for anyone that participates in the world of post-industrialism: those who sit in their privatized home, earning money by buying and selling sensual-less commodities and perpetuating a system that values little other than the preservation of self.
The beautiful filming (I always appreciate fix 35s and soft boxes) makes it an even stranger place to travel through, both enjoyable to look at but frightening to comprehend (perhaps that's overly dramatic, but its true).
Andreas' journey through his hell is overwhelmingly tragic. His quest is honorable, laudable, and precious. The conclusion is necessary and we are left not sure if he's better off, which is the perfect conclusion.
Breve! Highly recommended to all people who view their world with a critical eye and especially to those who don't (perhaps it will encourage a reflection or two).
The beautiful filming (I always appreciate fix 35s and soft boxes) makes it an even stranger place to travel through, both enjoyable to look at but frightening to comprehend (perhaps that's overly dramatic, but its true).
Andreas' journey through his hell is overwhelmingly tragic. His quest is honorable, laudable, and precious. The conclusion is necessary and we are left not sure if he's better off, which is the perfect conclusion.
Breve! Highly recommended to all people who view their world with a critical eye and especially to those who don't (perhaps it will encourage a reflection or two).
Life de-saturated
fustbariclation26 December 2009
Enjoyed 'Den brysomme mannen' http://ow.ly/PTTp (my wife didn't, so I watched it in bits over a few days.)
Reviewers mainly confused - most agree it's allegorical, but not of what; 'Heaven', 'Hell', 'Socialism', 'Capitalism'?
That most people don't wish to escape, and it's, essentially, forbidden goes with most of those options.
So, presumably you're supposed to project your favourite preoccupation/prejudice/fear onto it.
So I'd say it's about an a-epicurean life. A live desaturated of colour, literally in the film, figuratively in the interpretation.
Reviewers mainly confused - most agree it's allegorical, but not of what; 'Heaven', 'Hell', 'Socialism', 'Capitalism'?
That most people don't wish to escape, and it's, essentially, forbidden goes with most of those options.
So, presumably you're supposed to project your favourite preoccupation/prejudice/fear onto it.
So I'd say it's about an a-epicurean life. A live desaturated of colour, literally in the film, figuratively in the interpretation.
So?
hitchcockkelly26 January 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Is it worth living a life without passion? No. Is it worth sitting through a 91 minute long movie whose only point is asking if life is worth living without passion? No. Only Europeans could take what might've been a bad, 24-minute long episode of the Twilight Zone, turn it into a feature movie, and call it art. It's beautifully filmed. I found it oddly fascinating to watch, but the plot description is all you need to know. Hint: it's not a placid dream come true. I wondered if Andreas was in a boring, bland place or if he was the star of his own boring, bland movie. "The Bothersome Man" brushed against "Groundhog Day" territory, except there were no laughs and there was no payoff. Perhaps it was meant as commentary on living in one of those bland, Scandinavian, socialist "paradises", but I didn't care.
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