Jackpot (15)
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Dir: Magnus Martens
With: Kyrre Hellum, Henrik Mestad, Mads Ousdal
Running time: 90 minutes
IF you are not yet tired of wall to wall Wallander, if you are still knitted to The Killing and can't say no to another Jo Nesbo, then this latest instalment of Scandinavian noir is for you.
A gentle warning, though: you'll need a strong stomach and a keen liking for the bleakest of humour. Neither director Magnus Martens, nor Nesbo, who provides the story, play nice when it comes to noir. Jackpot is over the top in the way of early Tarantino and vintage Coen brothers. While Martens' film is not as polished as anything they might make, he goes at the job with relentless energy and a distinctly European, often daft, sense of humour.
Meet Oscar (Kyrre Hellum), who manages a factory making artificial Christmas trees. Oscar is not too keen on his job, but he tries his best to be friendly to the ex-offenders the factory employs. When three of them suggest he joins them in a pools syndicate, Oscar goes along with the idea. With their optimism and his ability to divide by four, what could possibly go wrong?
Martens monkeys about with the story from first to last. A more fitting title for the film might have been Jigsaw, such is the way he continually throws the pieces in the air. It's a clever way of working, ensuring the audience is at first intrigued, then gripped, then vaguely sure of where things are heading, only for the twists and turns to start again.
Not as slick as Headhunters, or as inventive, but a successful marriage of crime and comedy, played to deadpan perfection by the cast.
Glasgow Film Theatre, tomorrow-August 23; DCA, Dundee August 24-30.
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