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Title: Blinkende lygter (2000)
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| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Søren Pilmark | ... | ||
| Ulrich Thomsen | ... | ||
| Mads Mikkelsen | ... | ||
| Nikolaj Lie Kaas | ... |
Stefan
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| Sofie Gråbøl | ... | ||
| Iben Hjejle | ... | ||
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Frits Helmuth | ... |
Carl
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Ole Thestrup | ... | |
| Peter Andersson | ... |
Færingen
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Niels Anders Thorn | ... |
William
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| Henning Jensen | ... | ||
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Solbjørg Højfeldt | ... | |
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Jesper Asholt | ... | |
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Helle Dolleris | ... | |
| Bent Mejding | ... | ||
Four small-time gangsters from Copenhagen trick a gangster boss: they take over 4,000,000 kroner which they were supposed to bring him. Trying to escape to Barcelona they are forced to stop in the countryside, in an old, wrecked house, hiding there for several weeks. Slowly, one after another, they realize, that they would like to stay there, starting a new life, renovating the house and forming it into a restaurant. But they can't avoid being caught up by their past. Written by Volker Merl <volko@foni.net>
This is a great Danish movie. The script is at the top of the heap. The acting is perfect for it, down to the smaller parts. It is a movie with deep themes and wisdom about people, family, and human nature. It's very witty, although some of that is lost in the subtitles.
This movie is set in a kind of noir framework but it completely transcends that and becomes drama, not melodrama, but a committed look at characters and their makeup, what makes people tick, what makes them as they are, what they can be, what makes them change, what makes them happy or unhappy. The script respects the differences among people in how it addresses these matters. Each character goes through a character arc here that has different causes. It's compressed into movie-story time and so is not entirely realistic, but it's plausible with a bit more time.
The noir framework is that 4 guys, close friends, who are into robbery, guns, violence, short-tempers, foul language, etc. end up stealing a big amount and going on the lam from another head gangster ("Eskimo") in their city. They hide out in a remote place in the sticks in an old run down building that once was a restaurant. For the whole movie, there is suspense of their eventual discovery by Eskimo, although the resolution is telegraphed at the outset of the story.
But the movie goes in a completely unexpected direction from the tired, overused, and crummy stuff that too often inhabits the modern noirs or semi-noirs or movies that pass for noirs. These 4 guys begin to change, under various influences and causes, ranging from other people they meet to their surroundings to taking time to read and think while they have to be hiding. Circumstances and their friendship plays a part too, but ultimately there is going to be something mysterious in how this process works. They stop acting like psychopaths and their humanity starts to emerge. There is no psychotherapy involved at all. Nothing Freudian, Jungian or any other thing-ian. There is no religion involved. The script is more subtle than any of these conventional remedies or supposed remedies for overcoming problems that result in anti-social and inhumane behavior.
This is a movie that many people take as a comedy, but it's much deeper and beautiful than simply laughs.