Take the Trash/Blå Mænd (2008) - Heide's Danish trash comedy

♥

The four main stars of Rasmus Heide's Take the Trash look ready to goof it up on this poster

An arrogant IT salesman commits a blunder and receives a community service sentence that is to be effected in a junkyard. Here he learns something about people and fellowship. And meets a sexy lady who for inscrutable reasons comes there quite often.

Take the Trash is written by Mick Øgendahl (All for One/Alle for Én (2011)) and debuting co-writer-director Rasmus Heide (All for Two/Alle for To (2013)).
The script tries to give us an acceptable presentation of its environments, but it seems like Øgendahl and Heide don't have a clue about them. The story is served with a semi-serious tone, but the material is so languid and caricatured that it seems very foolish to think that we would buy any of it.
Thure Lindhardt (Light Thereafter (2017)) is not very funny and far from convincing as the protagonist. Most of Take the Trash's light moments come from Sidse Babett Knudsen (Mona's World/Monas Verden (2001)), who goes all-in as a day-dreaming, lesbian character with a violent streak.
The film is ugly technically and has obvious problems of getting its running time up to a suitable length for a theatrical comedy. Take the Trash is a cheap and poor Danish attempt at nailing the modern farce with American influences. Near its ending the film lets out some extra-tasteless, unfunny gay jokes that stress Øgendahl and Heide's maturity level, which is about at level with a backwards 9 year-old.

Related posts:

Rasmus Heide: All for One/Alle for Én (2011) - Heide and Øgendahl's flawed but funny Danish crime comedy

2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 

2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 
2008 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2008 in films - according to Film Excess

Watch a trailer for the film here (regrettably without English subtitles)

Cost: 10 mil. DKK, approximately 1.56 mil. $
Box office: Unknown - but likely around 32.8 mil. DKK, approximately 5.11 mil. $
= Box office success (approximately 3.27 times the cost)
[Take the Trash was released 15 August (Denmark) and runs 85 minutes. Shooting took place in Denmark, including Copenhagen, from September - October 2007. The film was a hit in Denmark, its only release country, where it sold 438,047 tickets. If you multiply this by 75 DKK, which was around the average ticket prize in Denmark at the time, you get the 32.8 mil. DKK gross listed above. The film won 2/6 Robert awards (Danish Oscar) - both audience awards. Heide returned with The Christmas Party/Julefrokosten (2009). Lindhardt returned in Little Soldier/Lille Soldat (2008). 3,291 IMDb users have given Take the Trash a 5.8/10 average rating.]

What do you think of Take the Trash?

Armadillo (2010, documentary) - Metz's transfixing, powerful Afghanistan War portrayal

♥♥♥♥♥

1 Film Excess nomination:


Best Documentary: Janus Metz (lost to José Padilha for Secrets of the Tribe)


+ Best War Movie of the Year
 

The human heart merged with a hand-grenade is at the center of this striking poster for Janus Metz's Armadillo

We meet some of the guys that make up the Danish army's Afghanistan Team 7, as they are heading to the Danish base in Helmand in South-Afghanistan to win the hearts of the people there and kill Taliban enemies.

Armadillo is an outstanding war documentary, which has added value for Danes, as watching it for a Dane is almost like flying down to the war and experiencing it with our brothers, sons and grandsons. It is also a tough reckoning for Danes especially, as the film encapsulates part of the change our nation has gone through in the post-9/11 world.
Feature-debuting director Janus Metz (Borg vs McEnroe (2017)) and his photographer Lars Skree capture the soldiers in impressively intimate moments as the adrenaline-hungry big boys that they were, and then we witness how the gravity of the war changes them. The film also portrays real war engagement, which is obviously shot at the risk of death.
Armadillo is a deeply moving and strong film of good forces at work in a hopeless war, and maybe the year's best documentary. Kasper Torsting (Ø (2016, miniseries)) contributed idea elements.

Related posts:

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

 Metz talks to Empire Magazine about the film here

Cost: Estimated 1.5 mil. $
Box office: 2 mil. $
= Some uncertainty (but looks like a big flop theatrically)
[Armadillo premiered 16 May (Cannes) and runs 101 minutes. Filming took place in Denmark and Helmand, Afghanistan. The film opened #1 in its native Denmark, where 118k paid admission to it. It opened #84 to a 3k $ first weekend in 1 theater in North America, where it grossed 14k $ (0.7 % of the total gross). The film's biggest market by far was Denmark with 1.5 mil. $ (75 %), and the 2nd and 3rd biggest were Norway with 391k $ (19.6 %) and France with 44k $ (2.2 %). The film was nominated for a European Film Award, won the Critics Week Grand Prize in Cannes, 3 Bodil Awards (Danish critics' award), 2 Robert Awards (Danish Oscar) as well as other honors. Metz has left documentaries with his second feature, period tennis drama Borg vs McEnroe. Armadillo is certified fresh at 90 % with a 7.6 /10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Armadillo?