Men & Chicken (2015) (Danish Language)

Review

104min

Genre:      Comedy, Drama, Mystery

Director:   Anders Thomas Jensen

Cast:        Mads Mikkelsen, David Dencik, Nikolaj Lie Kaas…and more

Writer:     Anders Thomas Jensen

-Synopsis-

When their father reveals the truth about their parentage on his deathbed; a pair of misfit brothers travel to a remote Danish island to unravel the mystery of their origins, only to encounter their grotesque trio of half-brothers and get drawn into a peculiar family reunion in this absurdist black comedy from Danish writer/director Anders Thomas Jensen.

Master of intense and slightly unnerving characters Mads Mikkelsen (King Arthur, Casino Royale), stars as “Elias” in a role which takes him on quite a tangent. Alongside David Dencik (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) as “Gabriel”; both quirky brothers with distinct physical traits and personal tics, the former an impulsive emotionally retarded but somehow cultured man and the later a wiser well-adjusted academic.

By any standard ‘Men & Chicken’ is a pretty strange film; a wacky foreign-language deadpan black comedy with Three Stooges and Chaplin-like slapstick, plus Tom and Jerry levels of violence. Set in the backdrop of a striking and often grotesque aesthetic, all within a dark narrative which has an existential underbelly and somehow manages to be poignant.

The film becomes a bit of a road movie which then flows into a mystery, albeit a not very mysterious one, when “Gabriel” and “Elias” journey to a small isolated island to meet their biological father; a reclusive scientist with a dark past.

There they meet their long-lost “brothers”; three men with similar physical traits and their own quirks but more savage and unsettling having grown up in isolation, and with a combination of whimsical childishness and philosophical curiosity thanks to their upbringing… think a well-read Three Stooges meets the homicidal family from ‘The Texas Chain Saw Massacre’.

Despite being a contemporary story, ‘Men & Chicken’ has a distinctly aged turn of the 20th century look, which helps to underline the isolated nature of the characters; particularly when it comes to the mansion/sanatorium in which they live, abandoned and stuffed with farm animals and decaying furniture & fixtures.

Even though it’s a ridiculous comedy, ‘Men & Chicken’ might not have mass appeal for general audiences, particularly those not used to world cinema. Especially when it comes to the dark deadpan humour which brazenly deals with sexuality, the fairer sex and even bestiality; not to mention the disappointing final sequence which is out of step with the rest of the film.

But all of this is part of the narrative and in keeping with the nature of the characters, as you’ll discover when the mystery unravels; for us ‘Men & Chicken’ is a wonderfully ludicrous and bizarre black comedy which touches on human nature, and is ultimately an extremely unconventional family drama about the value of life… whatever form it takes.

The Bottom Line…

In his first directorial outing for 10 years; Anders Thomas Jensen brings us a wholly unique, side-splitting unconventional black comedy/drama which is often uncomfortable to watch and impossible to forget. Probably this year’s ‘The Lobster’, a film which showcases what foreign language film has to offer “mainstream” cinema… and the most bizarre family reunion in recent film history.

Similar films you may like (Home Video)

The Lobster (2015)

In a dystopian alternative reality, where single people are sent to a resort to find a compatible partner within 45 days or they’ll be turned into an animal of their choice and released into the woods, a desperate man breaks the rules and escapes into the wild to live with an illegal society of loners where he unexpectedly finds true love.

Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos and starring Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz and Léa Seydoux among others.

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