"A Somewhat Gentle Man" is perhaps one of the darkest -- literally and figuratively -- comedies you're likely to find.
This 107-minute Norwegian film (in Norwegian and Lapp, with English subtitles) directed by Hans Petter Moland stars Stellan Skarsgård ("Angels & Demons," "Mamma Mia," "Entourage") as Ulrich, fresh out of the pen after doing 12 years for killing a man that was sleeping with his wife.
Moland and Skarsgård also collaborated on 2000's "Aberdeen" and 1995's "Zero Kelvin."
Some scenes in the picture are so dark you can barely make out facial expressions or how many people are in the room. But this photographic approach mirrors the film's darkly comedic script.
There's nothing funny about it on the surface. Ulrich returns home to find his son -- now 25 -- has written him out of his life, as has his wife. But his former "business associate" Jensen (Bjørn Floberg) wants Ulrich to exact revenge on Kenny (Henrik Mestad), the brother of the victim and the man that got Ulrich sent down.
Ulrich appears to really be a somewhat gentle man in his day to day dealings with his new boss, his randy landlady and others. Just seeing his son Geir (Jan Gunnar Røise) share a laugh with his pregnant wife is enough to make Ulrich not only smile, but laugh out loud, too.
Jensen also wants to be reimbursed by Ulrich for 12 years of payments to Ulrich's wife and son and storage for Ulrich's belongings while he was in prison. Ulrich seems inclined to pay back that debt, too ... at least for a while.
But while he tries to sort out his life and make amends after more than a decade away, Ulrich seems to seriously consider killing Kenny. And this begs the question, "is he really a somewhat gentle man?"
Whether or not he'll do it in the end is something you'll have to find out for yourself.
But on the road to the film's climax, Ulrich's path is littered with humor, from the rapid-fire diatribes by his boss Sven (Bjorn Sundquist) to the uproarious sexual shenanigans of his landlady -- Jensen's sister and Sven's ex-wife -- to Jensen's apparently stupid but perhaps smarter-than-he-seems sidekick Rolf (Gard B. Eidsvold) to Jensen himself, who is about the most ridiculous organized criminal you've ever seen. In fact, he's more like a "disorganized crime" figure.
And after 12 years in the pen, Ulrich can't seem to keep his pants on, though no fault of his own.
Skarsgård is the key to the film, of course. His ability to navigate the darkness and the absurdity without once breaking his serene, hard to crack, character makes this a great picture.
"A Somewhat Gentle Man" screens Friday, Oct. 1 at 7 p.m., at the Oriental Theatre and Sunday, Oct. 3 at 4 p.m., at North Shore Cinema.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
