Headhunters (2011)

I participated in a list of non-English speaking movies and my Scandinavian contribution was Force Majeure, a Swedish drama that begins in a ski resort which  a rich young family visit.

An avalanche descends and the wife decides that her husband’s main concern is to save his skin.

This gnaws away and the family, far from being so successful and wholesome, is exposed as fragile and fractious.

A friend of mine recommended the Norwegian film Order of Disappearance and, when I informed him that I had enjoyed it, drew to my attention another Norwegian noir Headhunters which I saw yesterday.

It’s based on a Jo Nesbo bestseller in which a successful recruiter Roger Brown (Aksel Hennie) leads a double life as an art thief to finance his extravagant  life style.

He comes a cropper when a  Dutch ex-CEO Clas Greve (Nilolaj Costes-Wachau who was in Game of Thrones) has a picture stolen by Brown and hunts him down. Clas was a SAS type soldier and an expert in tracking.

The first 30 minutes, which depict a party thrown by Brown’s gorgeous wife Diana (Synnove  Lund), who has an art gallery and showcases his high-end life style and ruthless egoism I found more engrossing than the manhunt afterwards which became implausible.

There are various  twists.

The real success is in the acting of Hennie as you root for Brown, appalling as he is.  Hennie, like many an actor, was a tearaway in his early years but then learned the actor’s craft. With his bug eyes he is not your normal handsome leading man but handles this role really well.

The film was dubbed into English with an American accent – the director Morten Tyldum could have been mindful that a Hollywood version may be made and he may not be its director.

I enjoy Skanda noir but could not eat a whole one.

Two in 4 days are too indigestable as the genre does not have sufficient diversity for me.