(r#68)
There are movies that break new ground. Then there are movies that push the envelope. Then there are movies that not only push the envelope, they tear it to pieces. Movies like Terkel i knibe. Pure brilliance.
Terkel/Torkel is your typical insecure preteen. He's a bit of a dork and his only friend is Jason, a wannabe gangsta who always carries a pipe in his back pocket. Torkel is plagued by the class bullies Sten and Saki who have a vendetta against him ever since being beaten half to death by Torkel's alcoholic uncle Stewart. Torkel's parents can't offer him any help either; his mother is a chain-smoking woman way past her expiration date, and his dad's whole vocabulary consists of the word "no". So poor Torkel is lonely in his struggle to fit in amidst insane teachers, a very unfortunate little sister, and off-the-wall musical numbers.
The musical numbers... just pure awesomeness from start to finish. The most memorable song, bar none, is Jason's absolutely brilliant "F/(k off and die". Who the hell thought that one up? The characters are spot on. Several of them reminded me of people I know in real life - if that is a good thing or not, I have no idea. Anders Matthesen has done a great writing job and completely captures the atmosphere of a dysfunctional school.
Every positive review so far has commented on how funny the movie is, and I agree completely. This is by far the funniest movie I've seen all year, even funnier than the remake of The Omen, believe it or not. But I'm surprised no one has commented on how completely sick this movie is! There's gore, violence towards kids, suicides, the aforementioned little sister and her utensil troubles, you name it. This movie was way more disturbing than I expected, but that's a good thing. The makers are taking the medium of CGI animation into new and previously unvisited areas, and I applaud them for trying something new. The design of the characters is crude, but utterly hilarious. This is a movie you should see as soon as possible - there's really nothing like it.
Watch "Torkel" right now!
