HEADHUNTERS
***
Director: Morten Tyldum
Screenwriters: Ulf Ryberg and Lars Gudmestad based on the eponymous novel by Jo Nesbø
Principal cast:
Askel Hennie
Synnøve Macody Lund
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau
Julie R. Ølgaard
Elvind Sander
Kyrre Haugen Sydness
Country: Norway/Sweden/Denmark/Germany
Classification: MA15+
Runtime: 96 mins.
Australian release date: 1 March 2012
Scandi crime lit, sometimes referred to as ‘Nordic noir’, is the global flavour of the month right now (think of the works of Steig Larsson, Henning Mankel, the writers of The Killing, etc), so it’s no surprise that the multi-million-selling books of Jo Nesbø are now starting to turn up at the cinema. Headhunters (Hodejegerne) is a Norwegian thriller that has enough twists and turns to offer, “more than can be forgotten as soon as the popcorn has been eaten and you’ve left the theatre”, according to its director, Morten Tyldum. It’s a violent film, too - there are moments in it that will have you gagging on that popcorn as it takes you on a ride that, while not entirely successful, has enough quirkiness and cleverness to keep you in suspense for much of its 96 minutes.
Roger Brown (Askel Hennie) is a cool head-hunter who seems to have it all. His opinion is highly regarded and he is very successful, but he is living well beyond his means. His wife Diana (Synnove Macody Lund) is a tall, willowy blonde who runs an art gallery and they live in a huge, ultra-modern luxury home. However, none of this comes cheap so, to supplement their expensive lifestyle, Roger steals art on the side. When he is introduced by his wife to Clas Greve (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) at one of her art openings, Roger tries to build up a professional relationship with him, on the one hand because he sees him as the perfect candidate for a position he is trying to fill and, on the other, because he sees a great financial opportunity - Clas owns a painting called ‘The Calydonian Boar Hunt’ by the artist Peter Paul Rubens and Roger sees this as a means of getting out of the financial hole that he has dug for himself.
As the characters spin out of control, the location moves from Roger’s privileged environment to him being on the run, where just about everything nasty, gritty and violent happens. Headhunters is not a thriller for the faint-hearted. Even though there are moments where you have to suspend your disbelief, Tyldum reins in the somewhat incredulous situation and manages to bring it back on track, with help from Hennie’s versatile performance. Roger’s hair change alone (and you will know what I mean when you see the film) is enough to make you believe that here is a man who is prepared to be as ruthless as he needs to be, in order to deal with the mayhem he has created.
Similar to Stieg Larsson, Nesbø has been translated into some 40 languages and Headhunters went straight to number one in the British hardback fiction charts. As with Larsson, too, Hollywood beckons. For those of you who found Larsson confronting, Nesbø goes one step further into the darkness. He was quoted as saying that, “his fear of the dark when he was a child fuelled his imagination”, and what an imagination he has. He’ll have you hanging out for the next Scandinavian novel adapted for either the big or the small screen.
Screenwriters: Ulf Ryberg and Lars Gudmestad based on the eponymous novel by Jo Nesbø
Principal cast:
Askel Hennie
Synnøve Macody Lund
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau
Julie R. Ølgaard
Elvind Sander
Kyrre Haugen Sydness
Country: Norway/Sweden/Denmark/Germany
Classification: MA15+
Runtime: 96 mins.
Australian release date: 1 March 2012
Scandi crime lit, sometimes referred to as ‘Nordic noir’, is the global flavour of the month right now (think of the works of Steig Larsson, Henning Mankel, the writers of The Killing, etc), so it’s no surprise that the multi-million-selling books of Jo Nesbø are now starting to turn up at the cinema. Headhunters (Hodejegerne) is a Norwegian thriller that has enough twists and turns to offer, “more than can be forgotten as soon as the popcorn has been eaten and you’ve left the theatre”, according to its director, Morten Tyldum. It’s a violent film, too - there are moments in it that will have you gagging on that popcorn as it takes you on a ride that, while not entirely successful, has enough quirkiness and cleverness to keep you in suspense for much of its 96 minutes.
Roger Brown (Askel Hennie) is a cool head-hunter who seems to have it all. His opinion is highly regarded and he is very successful, but he is living well beyond his means. His wife Diana (Synnove Macody Lund) is a tall, willowy blonde who runs an art gallery and they live in a huge, ultra-modern luxury home. However, none of this comes cheap so, to supplement their expensive lifestyle, Roger steals art on the side. When he is introduced by his wife to Clas Greve (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) at one of her art openings, Roger tries to build up a professional relationship with him, on the one hand because he sees him as the perfect candidate for a position he is trying to fill and, on the other, because he sees a great financial opportunity - Clas owns a painting called ‘The Calydonian Boar Hunt’ by the artist Peter Paul Rubens and Roger sees this as a means of getting out of the financial hole that he has dug for himself.
As the characters spin out of control, the location moves from Roger’s privileged environment to him being on the run, where just about everything nasty, gritty and violent happens. Headhunters is not a thriller for the faint-hearted. Even though there are moments where you have to suspend your disbelief, Tyldum reins in the somewhat incredulous situation and manages to bring it back on track, with help from Hennie’s versatile performance. Roger’s hair change alone (and you will know what I mean when you see the film) is enough to make you believe that here is a man who is prepared to be as ruthless as he needs to be, in order to deal with the mayhem he has created.
Similar to Stieg Larsson, Nesbø has been translated into some 40 languages and Headhunters went straight to number one in the British hardback fiction charts. As with Larsson, too, Hollywood beckons. For those of you who found Larsson confronting, Nesbø goes one step further into the darkness. He was quoted as saying that, “his fear of the dark when he was a child fuelled his imagination”, and what an imagination he has. He’ll have you hanging out for the next Scandinavian novel adapted for either the big or the small screen.