‘Wild Men’ Review: A Midlife Crisis Leads to Viking Cosplay in Thomas Daneskov’s Amusing Comedy
variety.comJoe Leydon Film CriticWhat happens when you want to go back to nature, only to find that nature is not at all welcoming? If you’re the midlife-crisis-beset Martin (Rasmus Bjerg), the hangdog protagonist of “Wild Men,” you might figure that after 10 days of trying to rough it in the wild as a landlocked Viking, it would be a good time to trek out of the Norwegian woods and seek snacks, beer, smokes and other necessities at a roadside service station minimart.Trouble is, as we see during the opening minutes of Thomas Daneskov’s gently absurdist comedy, although Martin did remember to tuck his iPhone in his animal-skin garb before fleeing the constraints of civilization, he neglected to bring along any money.
And the understandably discombobulated clerk behind the counter isn’t willing to barter when Martin offers pelts, and an axe, as payment for his items.
One thing leads to another, Martin inadvertently becomes a fugitive criminal — and a sixtysomething local cop named Øyvind (Bjørn Sundquist) eventually arrives on the scene to order a couple hog dogs and ask the clerk the obvious question: “What business does a Danish Viking have here?” The wonderful thing about “Wild Men,” a movie that suggests a dream-team collaboration of Hal Hartley and the Coen Brothers, is that everyone involved takes themselves extremely seriously, even as they behave and speak in ways that cause viewers who get the joke to smile, chuckle and occasionally laugh out loud.
Director Daneskov and co-writer Morten Pape refrain from ever pushing too hard, and their players are perfectly attuned to their sly restraint.As he soldiers on in his faux mountain man garb and waxes enthusiastic about the joys of getting back to basics — after trying, and.
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