It takes a while for this upcoming movie to really get moving, not unlike its depressed antihero. For a while the audience is not going to care about Ulrick, played by Stellan Skarsgard, a middle-aged guy who happens to be a murderer who just got out of jail. Hes thick, steady, steady, quiet and sports a ponytail. In this new movie release Ulricks boss expects him to kill the guy who was responsible for his jail time. Ulrick says that there wont be any more violence in his life, or at least thats what he thinks.
- This Norwegian offering to this years group of new movies is actually a very deadpan gangster comedy.
- Its about a couple of old guys who are working in a young mans world.
- All of Ulricks old friends seem to have succumbed to diabetes, stroke and colostomy.
- Patsy Clines music adds to the sad feeling of this new movie.
- Skarsgard walks around with a pained expression.
- Hes surrounded by brutal women and silly men, all with stringy hair, dead skin and style that rivals that of people living in a homeless shelter.
Ulrik takes a job as an auto mechanic and loves steamed cod and sex with his landlady, played by Jorunn Kjellsby. There isnt much conversation between them. Instead they watch the Polish “Dancing with the Star” on TV.
Something about Ulriks attempt to get his life back slowly grows on you. Director Hans Petter Moland has Ulrik reaching out to his son, played by Jan Gunnar Roise, and a fragile colleague, played by Jannike Kruse, and he seems to warm up and come back to life as we watch. At the movies finale, Ulrik finally lights up with an enormous smile and the audience will realize that this is the moment theyve been hoping for.