A dogme seal of approval: location shooting, natural light, no post-dubbed sound.
Kersten has got married. Dad dies. He inherits a “funny farm” and idiot bro Rud. Cue usual cretinous comicality and endearing quirky cuteness; when upset, plonk silly red loony hat on head, beam space-ships down with out-stretched upturned hands (as seen in pic), wave sparklers and so on.
Kersten needs housekeeper quick. Cue: hooker with heart Liva; she’’s needing to flee Copenhagen and upsetting calls from a “pink little whore” perv. Soon her bratty adoloscent bro is joining too, laughing at the “fucking spastic“. Worse, turns out he’s been doing the pervy calls.
“Life is one long turd. You’re all i’ve got. I’m all you’ve got. We have to take care of each other” she’s saying to him, hugging him like a loving big sister should.
Kersten gets a kicking trying to save Liva from getting raped. Then he’s set on by Liva’s brothel girlies. They gonna cut his balls off? Nah.
He and Liva have fallen predictably in love. And brat bro loves lovable loon Rud too. Alternative family. Happy ever after days.
This is the 3rd time i’ve seen this and my estimation of it has dropped. A slapdash pastiche of tropes and tics: Rain Man meets Pretty Woman.
I knew it’d all feel good in the end. The script tries to postpone the feel-good with silly melodramas.
There’s plenty of energy in the acting; Jesper Asholt as Rud convinced me he was/is an idiot despite all the Hoffmanish cliches.
Don’t need to watch it again. Bag it for the Charity shop.
Dir: Soren Kragh-Jacobsen, Denmark
6/10
