Saturday 23 January 2016

Great Film (and free, sortof)

If you've got BBC iPlayer, there's a terrific film on there at the moment, a Norwegian film called Headhunters. It's about a recruitment headhunter who is also an art thief in his spare time. It's based on a Jo Nesbo novel, which makes me think I should read more of his stuff.

It's a brilliantly written thriller. Absolutely chuffing brilliant. I don't want to say too much - it's a thriller and wouldn't want to give away anything about it, but I will say that it's probably an 18 rating, so not for the little kids. And yes, it's got subtitles, but please don't let that put you off. I can get fed up with subtitles, but I wasn't bored for a second with this.

Is it my favourite Scandanavian movie? It'd definitely a close run thing with Let the Right One In.

6 comments:

Steven_L said...

I don't think I've seen any Scandinavian movies. I saw a Greek movie once called "Dogtooth". Well worth a look.

Tim Almond said...

Steven_L,

Let the Right One In is a great Vampire/Romance film. As is Headhunters. And I like A Royal Affair. I tried Festen, but it's really grim, as are most Ingmar Bergman films.

I'll check out Dogtooth. Sounds interesting.

DBC Reed said...

This film was in a season of Scandinavian noire on telly a while back: probably the best in a high quality field.

Bayard said...

I've just watched it and agree that it deserves the praise it's been given. However, tonight is the last night.

Anonymous said...

Just managed to watch it in time. [spoiler ahead] I enjoyed it. The plot twists were thick and fast, as said. The performances were good, especially that of the main protagonist. Up to the point he killed his accomplice i felt that was the peak that was reached rather early and never surpassed. That said it's probably not my kind of film. I remember it being on BBC recently and looking up the synopsis in IMDB and avoiding it for that reason. Thrillers generally aren't my cup of tea. Girl with the Dragon Tattoo being another example of a perfectly decent film that entertains well without really leaving a mark. No thoughts after the film about the characters, the denouement [which tied up all the loose ends nicely by spelling it out] or the message of the film which was rather obvious,[or irrelevant?].

I went over some of the bits of the film in my mind this morning but soon realised this one didn't move me in any way. Perhaps like the two leading male characters in the film...I lack any empathy?!

Regards Dogtooth mentioned above that has to be one of the weirdest films I've seen and is the work of an auteur I dare say but it also was a most depressing film, quite claustrophobic and having watched it right to the end I couldn't help but wonder why I had. So definitely Headhunters over Dogtooth even though they are like chalk and cheese!

Tim Almond said...

DBC,
Cheers. Any idea what else was in there? I rather like film noir.

Bayard,
Splendid

paulc,
I do have a particular love of mystery/twisty writing. I love having the rug pulled from under me in a story, but that it also still has to add up with the known facts/characters etc. And it's very rare.