Wild Men
classified 15 SPlease note: This was screened in May 2022
An unusual midlife crisis unfolds in writer-director Thomas Daneskov’s (The Elite) highly entertaining, absurdist comedy about a man who has fled his family and the modern world to head into the woods and live off the land (errr… kind of).
Feeling emasculated by the modern world, Martin (Rasmus Bjerg) has escaped to the Norwegian mountains - clothed in furs, hunting and gathering like his ancestors did thousands of years ago before supermarkets and smartphones ruined everything (though he still uses both). But Martin’s self-actualisation project is turned upside down when he meets Musa (Zaki Youssef), a drug runner, lost deep in the woods, injured and bleeding after a car accident. Together, this odd couple join forces as they are chased through the wilderness by the local police chief, Musa’s rivals and Martin’s rather irritated wife (The Killing’s Sofie Gråbøl).
A sharply observed, drolly amusing comedy of errors with a madcap narrative, blending deadpan wit and outbursts of violence to great effect, Wild Men explores 21st century man, his insecurities and modes of being through a satirical yet affectionate lens, as its three central characters all struggle to reconcile ideas of masculinity, regret and their past, present and potential selves.