Men & Chicken, or Mænd & høns if you prefer, is a Danish dark comedy starring everyone’s favourite culinary cannibal and Rihanna music video extra – Mads Mikkelsen. While already released in Denmark it’s been included in the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival selections (it kicks off next month), and as such we’ve been treated to the first English-subtitled trailer.
The lengthy official plot synopsis is as follows:
Gabriel and Elias are two very different brothers. Gabriel is a worn down university professor and Elias is a man whose only concern is women and trivial knowledge. During a lecture Gabriel receives a phone call. Their father is dead. Things take a turn when the brothers learn through a videotape recorded by their now late father, that he in fact wasn’t their biological father. Gabriel and Elias discover that their biological father lives on the island Ork.
They set out to the island and here they meet their real family. The brothers’ first meeting with the family doesn’t go as expected. Gabriel and Elias are stranded in the marshland of Ork. Here they meet the mayor of Ork and his daughter Ellen, a neurotic woman who hates her life, herself, her father and the island. Surrounded by abnormal people, Gabriel and Elias discover the truth about themselves and their relatives. A truth that while paralyzing them also sets them free.
I… I don’t know what I just watched, but I want to see more – it has a surreal quality to it with decidedly dark humour delivered in a dry, deadpan manner. Mikkelsen looks completely different to how we’ve become accustomed to seeing him – his shabby appearance completely at odds with the elegant persona he displays in Hannibal. They should also get credit for the most disturbing use of a chicken since Hot Shots Part Deux and that thing a person whose name rhymes with “ick” does.
Men & Chicken was written and directed by Anders Thomas Jensen (who’s recently been tapped to help write Stephen King’s The Dark Tower adaption) and stars Mads Mikkelsen, David Dencik, Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Søren Malling and Nicolas Bro.
Last Updated: August 12, 2015
