Terribly Happy (Frygtelig lykkelig - 2008)

A doctor, a priest, and a shopkeeper are playing cards. That's not the beginning of a joke but a repeated scene in this dark and violent movie that is frequently compared to work of the Coen Brothers and David Lynch. It swept the Robert Festival (the Danish Oscars) last year, winning best film, director, screenplay, cinematography, actor, and actress, and was nominated for more there, and won elsewhere. Director/co-writer Henrik Ruben Genz (nominated by our Oscars for a short in 1998) is in negotiations to direct the English-language remake, which will have to be set in a location that has bogs, or maybe swamps will do. Jack said to the ticket seller, "We want to be terribly happy." She replied, "You won't be." But there are some laughs, mostly of the nervous kind. There's also a cop, his boss, a cowboy, his wife, and a cat that says "Mojn" (pronounced moyn, it means hello and goodbye). Not much else makes sense, either. But it's not a bad way to spend an hour and a half. And now I say "Mojn" to my cat to teach him Danish (he doesn't care what I say, as long as I feed him and touch him).