Eagerly anticipating this week ... (5-24)

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (5-24)
Alex Garland's Civil War (2024)

9/21/2015

The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared/Hundraåringen Som Klev Ut Genom Fönstret och Försvann (2013) - One of the year's funniest films is this Swedish adaptation



+ Best Swedish Movie of the Year

The original Swedish poster for Felix Herngren's The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared



Allan does not want to celebrate his centennial birthday as a nursing home resident and therefore escapes out of his window to evade the pending 'festivities'. On his escape he happens to steal a suitcase, and a new adventure begins in his eventful life.

The Hundred-Year-Old is a highly enjoyable tall tale, which is an adaptation of the same-titled 2009 bestseller by Jonas Jonasson (The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden/Analfabeten Som Kunde Räkna (2012)). Co-writer-director Felix Herngren (Every Other Week/Varannan Vecka (2006)) and Hans Ingemansson (Every Other Week) have done a first-rate job of adapting the book. - As someone who has read the book, I can attest that their film might actually be better than the book.
Gallows humor, absurdism and even subtle stings to the state of affairs in contemporary Sweden are served in a lavish production with a high  pace and good performances across the board: Especially Robert Gustafsson (Four Shades of Brown/Fyra Nyanser av Brunt (2004)) is, incredible as it may seem, very good as the titular hero, who was 52 years older than him at the time of shooting! Several of the other actors are also terrific.
The Hundred-Year-Old is a super fun, festive gunpowder-fueled blast. Hooray!

Related posts:

2013 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED VI]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]



Watch the trailer with English subtitles here

Cost: 9.1 mil. $
Box office: 50 mil. $
= Big hit
[The film opened at Christmas in Sweden, where it came off to a great start; after nearly 6 months, 1.565 mil. Swedes had paid admission, making it the 6th most seen Swedish film in Sweden to date. Its gross makes it the third-highest grossing Swedish film of all time behind The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo/Män Som Hatar Kvinnor (2009) and The Girl Who Played with Fire/Flickan Som Lekte med Elden (2009). A sequel of The Hundred-Year-Old is in the mold for release in 2016.]

What do you think of The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared?

No comments:

Post a Comment

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (4-24)

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (4-24)
Niclas Bendixen's Rom (2024)