***NOTE:
The following analysis/review may contain MILD SPOILERS regarding some
detail in the film, but not to the extent of making the film viewing
experience any lesser.***
The titular bothersome man by the name of Andreas arrives at a strange looking, isolated location, with a welcome sign put up especially for him at a solitary gas station. He looks around, appears lost, but doesn't question anything outright. His confusion and perplexed stares don't last very long and before he knows it, he has a fine job, a fine apartment and a fine girlfriend in a plush, polished city that looks spectacularly ideal....on the surface at least!
Very soon, Andreas begins to realize that there is something grossly amiss, and a lot is quite sinister in this new place. The food lacks any real taste, the alcohol doesn't get him high, and everyone around him, including his girlfriend, is rather emotionally sterile! So what's really going on here?
Norwegian filmmaker Jens Lien delivers the clues but doesn't give straight answers to Andreas' situation in his "The Bothersome Man" (2006). Lien's film is a darkly comic, surreal meditation on urban alienation and a frightening vision of a society desensitized by a consumerist culture.
Andreas finds himself in an overwhelmingly stoic world that he attempts to adapt to, but can't help but carry a perpetually baffled look. Actor Trond Fausa Aurvåg displays this with an accurately comical expression of bewilderment and a lost sense of reality, similar to an insomniac Edward Norton in "Fight Club" (1999). Everything around Andreas is rather robotic. A couple at the train station engage in a sloppy kiss with blank expressions, devoid of any real emotional connect. People seem to carry fake plastic smiles all the time, and even when they are joking around lunch or dinner, they are merely discussing what furniture to buy from a catalog (in another nod to "Fight Club").
His girlfriend becomes his girlfriend rather casually, and they engage in a ridiculously mechanical sexual act. All she ever seems to care about is furniture and interior decoration. Every scene she is in, she is either talking about or is around some decorative piece of furniture. And when she isn't doing that, she is seen watching furniture ads on TV! Even when they have guests at home, all they talk about is the home decor.
Andreas begins to get increasingly bored of this single-track mentality and a total disinterest in any other more meaningful talk, or any kind of exchange on a personal level from anyone around. A man who apparently jumps to his death is found stuck to a fence, his intestines sticking out. This scene is received rather calmly by the individuals around. No one seems to care. In a movie hall, during a very sentimental scene, it is only Andreas who seems to be quite touched, while the others look on like zombies!
In a Bunuel-esque exaggeration, fitting to the surreal nature of the narrative, Lien does not keep the lack of soul limited to the people. He extends it to the environment and practically everything contained in it. The food they consume is bland; the alcoholic drinks they down seem to lack any effectiveness. And shockingly, all this seems to bother only a handful few, Andreas being one, and one other mysterious individual rambling away in the toilet.
When another girl at his office, who initially seems warmer, reveals herself to be just as insensitive, Andreas gets weary and realizes that he doesn't belong there. But there seems to be no escaping his situation, as is illustrated in a hilariously freaky, but disturbing sequence involving a subway train. The subway scene, and the central theme of a man who finds himself in a nightmarish universe is reminiscent of Adrian Lyne's brilliant psychological thriller "Jacob's Ladder" (1990).
So what is this peculiar place, really? One way to look at it is that it's a myth-breaking representation of paradise, a paradise that everyone seeks, but one that isn't really the most ideal place to be. Or perhaps it is what Andreas achieves as a result of his quest for a personal utopia. It is the manifestation or the final shape attained by his desires, although it doesn't quite turn out to be in tune with his envisioning. What he got instead, was a tasteless world, a world with life sucked out of it.
He ended up with an outcome of a pursuit that was really meaningless and empty; a pursuit of a false happiness through worldly desires, materialistic gains, something that doesn't really spell happiness in the end. While
most others in this society, thrive on a false sense of security achieved through these very
material gains, content that they have found their utopia, our protagonist is awakened, and seeks to escape to find his own utopia which perhaps,
doesn't exist anymore. In the process of chasing the so-called good life, he has left behind the actual good life, which he now longs to go back to.
And therefore, does the discovery of a mysterious hole in the wall give him new hope? A crack that oddly resembles a vagina, an opening that emanates a pleasant smell and lilting music, and somehow seems to give vibes of life. The hole is perhaps symbolic of a gateway to the womb, back into a quaint little motherly kitchen, with the golden sun shining bright, sounds of chirpy children in the background, and a sweet tasting cake lying on the table. What's more, the location of the hole is an apartment building occupied mostly by old timers; suggestive of the last link to the old school! Perhaps Andreas yearns to go back and start over; reclaim the lost paradise, taste the real good life again.
But is there a way back? Or is he trapped in a state of no return, in a never-ending search for a paradise that he may never see? Another journey commences, another transportation, ending up in a world that seems to be a lot more colder than this; and a blizzard seems to await him! Will it ever end for Andreas?
"The Bothersome Man" is a challenging but fun film that is entertaining, visually enticing as well as thematically rich, enough to please any hardcore cinephile. Screenwriter Per Schreiner and filmmaker Jens Lien give us lucky viewers a lot to chew on and a lot to admire in this finely crafted, enigmatic gem.
Score: 9/10
In a remote Icelandic village, a twelve year old Hera watches her heavy-metal loving older brother die in a gruesome tractor accident. This incident has a huge psychological impact on her young mind as well as her dairy farmer parents. During the funeral, Hera looks at Jesus Christ with scorn and storms out of the church. A rebellious seed has somehow been sown into her, as she appears to denounce God and goes on to embrace her brother's heavy metal passion.
Time passes by, and she grows up into a brooding teenager with a cold attitude, while her parents go on with their lives, participating in the village community affairs and church choir. Clearly, none of the family members have moved on or attained closure. There are still demons of the past and the horrible accident, lurking about.
Hera's mother practically dwells like a zombie and drifts off while in the kitchen or when at the table. Hera's father is somewhat indifferent as well. The traumatic episode almost leaves a permanent dent on their being. In such a scenario, Hera finds solace in heavy metal. She stays out, albeit in isolation, drinks, drives recklessly and then retires to the comfort of her little room, its walls all plastered with heavy metal posters, and goes on to smash some tunes to mosh to.
Being an ardent lover of music, especially of the metal kind, Ragnar Bragason's "Metalhead" (2013) and its eyeball-grabbing poster, that
cropped up from somewhere in the icy cold regions of Iceland, instantly
caught my attention. Bragason's film is primarily an examination of grief and the struggle of a family in dealing with loss. Heavy metal music and the attitude and image usually associated with it, merely serve as tools for the youngest member, Hera, to deal with it and carry on with her life, in her own way.
Music has healing powers they say, and anyone with a significant connect to music of any kind experiences this facet in some phase of their life, finding support and companionship in music. Heavy metal and its subgenres are usually associated with rebellion, grief, anger, hatred, anti-establishment, anti-religion and everything that's normally considered 'against the grain'. It is the kind of music that's anything but happy or cheerful! And that's what makes it tick and that's how the youth of society cling on to it and seek that ultimate comfort and release, rarely found elsewhere. The love for metal takes a highly personal form, and it is entirely up to the individual how he/she receives the music they listen to.
The central character Hera, at the outset, enters the metal world, purely as a means of a rebellion against God or society, or so it seems, and possibly in a hope to continue her brother's legacy. She doesn't seem to have a natural inclination for it, and therefore the very beginning of this character arc somewhat disappoints. Using her brother's death as an excuse to condemn God and turn to metal comes off as forced and unconvincing. You don't just become a metalhead overnight! It's usually an acquired taste, one that develops and matures over time when you venture into. Merely embodying the metal persona is not enough. Perhaps at that wee age, she is only aware of its rebellious image and doesn't care much about the music, the liking for which only grows later.
It doesn't help matters that the first half hour of the film is slower than the slow life where the film is set and the lead character is rather dull and uninteresting, colder than the coldest snowflake! Maybe it isn't Thora Bjorg Helga's performance that's to blame, maybe it is Bragason's portrayal of the character itself, for she shows the right acting chops at a later stage. For the most part, there's a major hindrance in making any kind of emotional connect with her. Her poseur approach to the image of metal is relatable, however, considering her age. It's surprising, however, that she defends the lyrics of some of the bands, presumably those that don't support an Anti-Christian or Satanist sentiment, in front of the priest. Why should she do that, if she has openly denounced God and religion?
The proceedings reach laughable proportions, when a rough demo Hera records in her cow shed, finds its way to some guys in a record label who wish to release it. One of the guys is wearing a Bolt Thrower T-shirt, and they seem like serious fellows in the business who know their stuff and have obviously heard more seasoned death and black metal. And yet his mate says that Hera's solo rough demo "is the most evil and brutal music he has ever heard", something that's hardly a believable statement coming from a record label guy who promotes metal.
Whether the metal music and the personality adopted by Hera is actually helping her case, or ruining her,
further becomes a matter of concern. But subsequently, this also
confuses us about the muddled intent of the filmmaker and the point he is trying
to make about this form of music. Bragason seems to be a man who knows
the music and the image associated with it, there is no question about it. So is
he championing the music, or sending out a cautionary message against it?
Normalcy seems to be attained for Hera when she gives up on the long,
open hair and the black tees and begins to tie her hair and dress
decently, thereby, at least in appearance, giving up the metal
lifestyle. The tape in her car is labelled 'Metal' but there seems to be something else playing in it. Are we to believe that the love for such music causes more harm than good? But then, this changed Hera goes back to playing music. So is she now a liberated person who can safely go back to her original taste in music? It doesn't make much sense; perhaps these inconsistencies are meant to directly reflect Hera's confusion about how she has turned out.
All said and done, ultimately, the whole heavy metal worship angle seems superficial, a decorative item on what is actually a regular tale of a family coping with a tragedy, tinged with some melodrama, that we've seen a zillion times already. Bragason brings nothing very new to the table except going a little more into detail of the central character's musical preferences. The distant, stoic protagonist, however, further affects the narrative that already feels empty, failing to induce any emotional investment on part of the viewer.
All is not lost, however. There's a decent enough story at its core, although nothing we haven't seen before. There are some beautiful shots of rural Iceland captured by August Jakobsson. There are good moments revolving particularly around the new priest in the village, who also happens to be into heavy metal at one point of time, complete with an Iron Maiden tattoo on his arm! Hera finds a friend in him, as he understands and shares her passion for the music.
One of the finer moments in the film has Hera and the priest listening to and appreciating Judas Priest's music in his car. However, the best parts of the film only come towards the end, one being the community hall performance that gains instant appreciation among the audiences once the harsh black metal is toned down to a more Icelandic, goth rock sound with clean female vocals, and second being the family moshing session to Megadeth's "Symphony of Destruction".
"Metalhead" is a film that could've been much better; a missed opportunity and a disappointment for metalhead cinephiles craving to see a great marriage of metal and cinema. One wishes there was more depth in the writing and the central character at the heart of it all wasn't as tepid. Bragason delivers a film that's a decent watch at best.
