A Somewhat Gentle Man
Melbourne International Film Festival, 25/07/2010
Status: Behind by 18 films
Every MIFF I get a mini-pass for 13 films. I have a few guidelines (rules is too strong a word) to help me narrow the freaking huge program down to 13. It goes something like this: a Korean film, whatever won the major award at Sundance, one of the films in the director retrospective program, one sci-fi film, one Middle Eastern film, one Hong Kong or kung-fu film, one film that everybody’s talking about, as many documentaries as I can and one Scandinavian crime-caper comedy.
That last criteria began in 2004 with a Danish film called The Green Butchers and the Scandanvians are yet to fail me. I like the Scandanavian sense of humour, and their attitudes to both storytelling (character-based) and to violence (often very mundane, shabby, and a last resort).
In A Somewhat Gentle Man, Ulrick, (STELLAN SKARSGARD, Angels and Demons, Pirates of the Carribean) gets released from prison and meets up with his old gang who demand he “settle his account” with the snitch who sent him there. While casing the snitch, he’s also re-adjusting to life outside - getting a job, reconnecting with his now adult son, reluctantly (hilariously) servicing his landlady. Ulrick is stretched between his life prior to prison, that some want him to pick up again, and new possibilities. Skarsgard’s performance is great - he’s allowed to be more subtle than the American villain roles I am familiar with him for - and he’s surrounded by an excellent support cast. It’s small, but it’s a gem. That’s seven gems in seven years running for the Scandinavians.
