The Bothersome Man [2007] [DVD]

This intriguing film is quite extraordinary. In a time when most films have become predictable this project stands out as a something of a creative triumph. It's truly inventive, beautifully shot and, as the story begins to unfold, quite addictive. You just have to know what on earth is going to happen next.

The general plot is covered well in the other reviews so I'll simply dwell instead on why I think it's so good. In fact perhaps the best way to see this film is to have no ideas what it's like and just be plunged straight in. But if you want to know more read on.

It's one of those movies that seeps into the mind and lingers for days. The calm atmosphere is almost casually interrupted my moments of strange horror and startling events. The detailed way that the shifts in realisation guide the viewer are handled in such a skilful way that the revelations that occur become an object lesson in fine direction.

Being a person who greatly admires the 60's television show 'The Prisoner' it's easy to draw some comparisons. A man alone in a society that seems to him trite and absurd. A society that cannot be escaped from. This film is clearly a comment on a mental attitude and a way of life that's alien and disturbing to the rational man. But unlike 'The Prisoner' no-one wants anything other than that he should be content. Perhaps he is the one who is mad for everyone else is so happy. Work is not too hard. Relationships sexual or otherwise are easy to come by. Almost everything is provided. Even death is banished.

But still, there's only a thin line between this city and hell.

The actor that takes the lead role (Trond Fausa Aurvag) is eminently watchable and rightly so for we must see and experience this strange society by his (beautifully underplayed) reactions. In fact the casting is perfect and each performer works to acheive a remarkable whole.

It's not necesarily easy or straightforward and some people may like to be held by the hand when they watch a movie. But for those who like to be inspired to think whilst they take their entertainment this is fine stuff indeed.

I didn't think this film was over long at all. I thought it was very pacey! The cinematography and score are stunning. The acting is faultless and, baring in mind where the hero starts out and finally ends up, it's not a complicated story! What is witty, and thought provoking, is how closely (in this strange land) the 'needful things' are pretty much the same things that people imagine would make them so satisfied with everyday Western real life. I've been succeptible to turning the pages, of an Ikea catalogue, and falling into a reverie.

The humour comes when the comedy is so incongruous. There was one scene, in particular, that I didn't want to laugh at but couldn't help it (twice). Perhaps it was the hellishly grisly sound effects.

This Norwegian film starts with a man jumping over the subway, apparently commiting suicide. But the next scene shows him arriving in a lonely bus into a desert. There 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 emotionless, and he soon meets a woman who becomes his girlfriend, yet the city seems utterly strange, as the 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.