Men & Chicken – Film Review by Fran Winston

Directed by: Anders Thomas Jensen

Starring: Mads Mikkelsen, David Dencik, Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Søren Malling, Nicolas Bro

Exclusively in the IFI from July 15th

Unless you watch a lot of Danish or Swedish dramas, chances are the only actor you will immediately recognise here is Mads Mikkelsen. Don’t let that put you off this quirky comedy drama though as it boasts some hilarious slapstick that harps back to days of old alongside one of the strangest plots ever committed to screen.

Without spoiling the big reveal for you the basic plot involves oddball brothers Gabriel (Dencik) and Elias (Mikkelsen) who are shocked to find out that the man who brought them up isn’t actually their father. Curious as to their real parentage they track their biological father down to a lowly populated island and they discover they have three other half brothers – all also extremely eccentric and odd. Although the brothers don’t hit it off initially (although they do hit each other with anything to hand) they slowly come to trust each other and Gabriel starts trying to refine his half siblings who have lived an isolated and almost feral life. But there are still festering resentments and secrets and when things finally come to a head they realise that more than family binds them all together.

I’m not going to lie – this movie is somewhat bonkers. It initially took me a while to get into it and figure out what was going on (although that could also be compounded by the subtitle translation as I do find things sometimes get lost here). However once I got into it I found to to be extremely enjoyable.

Mikkelson, while a very fine actor, is best known for playing intense brooding characters and he does that extremely well. Here though he plays completely against type. Think the polar opposite of his slick Bond villain, multiply it by about ten and you are getting close to how far removed this character is from his usual fare. The other four actors all do a sterling job also. You will recognise most of them from various projects but I can guarantee you will never have seen them like this.

Filmed in a mostly dark and brooding manner this feels intense from the off and even in the slapstick moments where the brothers are beating each other with dead animals there is always a feeling of foreboding hanging over this. It is difficult to say more without giving away the twist which is as surprising as it is shocking and does lead to the movie becoming quite preachy in it’s closing moments.

That aside this is a solid movie with a lot of heart, humour and gravitas. Director Jensen also wrote this and despite the rather heavy moralistic message near the end, on the whole he keeps it just the right side of heavy. I did feel that a few of the pivotal moments got lost in translation but I can live with that. If you fancy something a bit deeper than a CGI blockbuster you could do worse than check this out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYVlN5hTP0M