rating:
(out of
4 stars)Denmark; 1999
Directed by Lasse Spang Olsen; produced by Steen Herdel; screenplay by Anders Thomas Jensen
Starring Kim Bodnia, Dejan Cukic, Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Tomas Villum Jensen, Peter Gantzler, Trine Dyrholm
Below you will find a temporary review for this film. The real (better, more complete) review will be online very soon.
'In China They Eat Dogs' is an entertaining and sometimes very funny movie.
Most of the laughs come from moments you do not expect. Normally it is not
very funny when someone dies, but here it is funny every single time. It is
like the scene in the car from 'Pulp Fiction' where Travolta shoots another
person in the head, totally unexpected.
The story is about Arvid (Dejan Cukic) who saves the day when he smashes a
bank robber, who was robbing the bank where he works, to the ground. After
the bank robbers wife gets very mad with him because they really needed the
money Arvid feels guilty. It says enough about his characters, he always
wants to do the right thing. His wife just left him because he is so boring
and the truth is, we can't blame her.
He feels guilty so he wants to make up with the bank robber and his wife. He
visits his brother Harald (Kim Bodnia) who owns a restaurant. They haven't
spoken in a long time but since Harald is the only criminal Arvid knows he
must ask him for help. Harald agrees and together with Arvid, two cooks and
a person without a green card, all working in the restaurant, they try to
make things right. I will not reveal how they try to do this, it is just
exciting and very funny at the same time.
The story I just described is told by a man in a bar who says he knows
Arvid. He speaks with the bartender and another guest about the events we
see. For some reason those two stories, the one in the bar and the one that
is told there, come together in an ingenious way, because of a sub-plot
about the character without the green card. The ending here is terrific,
unexpected and with the funniest moments in the movie.
In a way this movie looks like movies such as 'Lock, Stock & Two Smoking
Barrels' or 'Snatch'. Criminals who have no idea what they are doing, pretty
violent at times, very funny also. The ending here makes this movie more
original than it actually is. Still, when the movie itself is very
entertaining and the ending only makes it better, there is no reason to
complain.