How to Get Rid of the Others/Hvordan Vi Slipper Af med De Andre (2007) - A generally awful Danish surreal comedy turkey

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A hit list of society's unwanted, a helicopter carrying a disabled person in a harness and two well-known Danish actors line up on this game poster for Anders Rønnow Klarlund's How to Get Rid of the Others

A new military law has taken effect in the kingdom of Denmark, which demands that citizens who are mainly an expense for the country and don't contribute beneficially at all are executed.

How to Get Rid of the Others is written by the also co-starring Rasmus Botoft (The Gift/Gaven (2008)) and co-writer/director Anders Rønnow Klarlund (Strings (2004)).
What little amount of fun there is to be had with this surreal satirical comedy, - which comes from veteran actors Søren Pilmark (The Last King/Birkebeinerne (2016)) and Tommy Kenter (Skibet i Skilteskoven (1992), TV-series) and the grotesque content, - pales in the context of a fatal combination of the dialog and script in general, acting (apart from the two mentioned actors) and photography - all of very poor quality. Klarlund perhaps tries to compensate by making the film very loud, full of screaming and yelling, but it helps naught: This very expletive-heavy concoction fails miserably.
The point to a big African element in the plot, - along with possibly other points which the obtuse creator duo had envisioned, - are lost in a case of a simply botched job here. How to Get Rid of the Others is a strange morass.

Related post:

2007 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2007 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Unclear, - perhaps 7.3 mil. DKK, (7,300 DKK is reported on IMDb, which must be a mistake and likely should have been 7,300,000 DKK), or approximately 1.15 mil. $
Box office: Unknown - but seemingly only around 1.2 mil. DKK, or approximately 0.19 mil. $
= Uncertain - but likely a box office disaster (seemingly returned approximately 0.16 times the cost)
[How to Get Rid of the Others premiered 26 January (Denmark) and runs 94 minutes. It was shot in Nørrebro, Copenhagen, Denmark. It sold 13,855 tickets in its production country Denmark, which only makes up a gross of around 1.2 mil. DKK. It was released in 5 other markets, 3 of which were only at festivals. No information on its performance there is available. It was nominated for 2 Robert awards (Denmark's Oscar). Klarlund returned with The Secret Society of Fine Arts (2012), an experimental still-photo-based film, which is the filmmaker's last to date. Pilmark returned in The Taste of Hair/De Kaldte Os Frisører (2007, short), Mr. Poxycat & Co. (2007, TV-series) and theatrically in The Early Years: Erik Nietzsche Part 1/De Unge År: Erik Nietzsche Sagaen Del 1 (2007). 980 IMDb users have given How to Get Rid of the Others a 6.0/10 average rating.]

What do you think of How to Get Rid of the Others?

Accused/Anklaget (2005) or, Grey Danish Molestation Misery

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If only Jacob Thuesen's Accused had, as this dull poster might suggest, been a film about a man with a freakishly oversized head, I might have liked it better

Accused presents a story of a man who gets accused of molesting his teenage daughter. 


The great dramatic potential in this premise gets lost in the film in excessive underplaying by the filmmakers: Everything is presented in stylistic, oppressive greys, and all the characters are tight-lipped, quiet and awkward. The charmless minimalist approach doesn't lead to suspense or anything much else, but it does make Accused a cold and severely hard-to-like acquaintance.
SPOILER The judicial protocol and direction the events turn towards could have been interesting. A major issue which also regrettably prevents this is lead Troels Lyby's (The Idiots/Idioterne (1998)) acting, which manifests mostly through his annoying, ever-frowning eyebrows. SPOILER The ending, (in which he crawls around in a street and shouts for kids to get an adult), is simultaneously unrealistic, contrived and sloppy filmmaking. It just doesn't work.
Debuting great Danish filmmaker Jacob Thuesen (The Left Wing Gang/Blekingegade (2009-2010, TV miniseries) has worked as an editor on many Danish films and since directed the funny film of Lars Von Trier's youth, The Early Years: Erik Nietszche Part I/Erik Nietszche: De Unge År (2007).
Accused is written by Kim Fupz Aakeson (The One and Only/Den Eneste Ene (1999)).

 

Related post:

 

2005 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]  

This short by director Jacob Thuesen is about the LA freeway system

Cost: Unknown, projected 1.44 mil. $
Box office: Unknown, projected 0.6 mil. $
= Some uncertainty, most likely a mega-flop (returned approximately 0.41 times its cost)
[Accused was released 28 January and runs 103 minutes. Little is publicized of the film's production, but its budget could well be modestly projected at around 10 mil. DKK, approximately 1.44 mil. $. The film sold 48,939 tickets in its native Denmark and was screened at several film festivals, including, most prominently, Berlin International Film Festival. It was nominated for 2 Robert awards (Danish Oscars). Thuesen returned with Freeway (2005, documentary) and theatrically with The Early Years: Erik Nietzsche Part 1 (2007). Lyby returned in Jul i Valhal (2005, TV-series), Below the Belt/Under Bæltestedet (2006, short) and theatrically in Skymaster/Der Var Engang En Dreng - Som Fik En Lillesøster med Vinger (2006), Sofie Gråbøl (The Day Will Come/Der Kommer En Dag (2016)) in True Spirit/Den Rette Ånd (2005). 1,662 IMDb-users have given Accused a 7.1/10 average rating.]

What do you think of Accused?