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Strand Releasing's A Somewhat Gentle Man is our latest indie film feature this week. Hans Hans Petter Moland's comedy crime drama opens on January 14th in New York and is screenwritten by Kim Fupz Aakeson. We have new movie images in from the Paradox Produksjon film starring the versatile and talented Stellan Skarsgård as well as Bjørn Floberg, Gard B. Eidsvold, Jorunn Kjellsby, Bjørn Sundquist, Jon Øigarden and Kjersti Holmen. A Somewhat Gentle Man was a winner of the Reader Jury of the Berliner Morgenpost" award and nominee of the Golden Berlin Bear award at this year's Berlin International Film Festival. Ulrik (Stellan Skarsgard) is a somewhat gentle man, as far as gangsters go. Reluctantly back on the streets following a stint in prison, Ulrik's boss greets him with open arms and a plan to settle an old score...

Strand Releasing's A Somewhat Gentle Man is our latest indie film feature this week. Hans Hans Petter Moland's comedy crime drama opens on January 14th in New York and is screenwritten by Kim Fupz Aakeson. We have new movie images in from the Paradox Produksjon film starring the versatile and talented Stellan Skarsgård as well as Bjørn Floberg, Gard B. Eidsvold, Jorunn Kjellsby, Bjørn Sundquist, Jon Øigarden and Kjersti Holmen. A Somewhat Gentle Man was a winner of the Reader Jury of the Berliner Morgenpost" award and nominee of the Golden Berlin Bear award at this year's Berlin International Film Festival. Ulrik (Stellan Skarsgard) is a somewhat gentle man, as far as gangsters go. Reluctantly back on the streets following a stint in prison, Ulrik's boss greets him with open arms and a plan to settle an old score...

Hans Petter Moland's dark ex-con comedy is reminiscent of Anders Thomas Jensen's humour, the Danish director responsible for Adam's Apples and The Green Butchers...

After twelve years in prison for killing his wife's lover, Ulrik (Stellan Skarsgård) is reluctantly released to a daunting changed world. Reunited with his ex-gangster chum Jensen (Bjørn Floberg), Ulrik is encouraged to avenge his downfall by killing the guy who ratted on him. But Ulrik is more interested in earning his the respect of long-lost son Geir (Jan Gunnar Røise). Studying to be an electrical engineer, replete with a pregnant girlfriend and decorated flat, Geir represents the life Ulrik now wants for himself.

During the time Ulrik spent in prison, his crim buddies have abandoned their underworld lifestyles, and consequently aren't as tough or respected as before, although Jensen misguidedly kids himself: “I look after my people, Ulrik. If my people show weakness,...

A farcical comic drama form Norway, Hans Petter Moland's A Somewhat Gentle Man stars Stellan Skarsgard as Ulrik, released from jail after a lengthy sentence for killing the man who slept with his wife. Re-entering the free world with more than a little reluctance Ulrik is torn between patching his personal life back together and rejoining his aging criminal pals Jensen (Bjorn Floberg) and Rolf (Gard B. Eidsvold) to take revenge on the man who testified against him.

Set in a desolate and grim neighbourhood bordering a major road route, this is Norway at its most grim and realist. The story, however, is far from realistic with a streak of hilarious absurdist humour running throughout. Slowly paced and scripted with some of the most wonderful deadpan humour, the film is populated by down-on-their-luck Norwegians, often deluded about the reality of their own existence. Sven (Bjorn Sundguist), the owner of...

Chances are, you've never seen a Norwegian film. Unlike other Nordic countries, Norway isn't exactly known as a cinematic powerhouse. Thanks to a simmering little film starring a Swedish actor, that may start changing. 

A Somewhat Gentle Man (En ganske snill mann) is a fair description of a small-time criminal released from prison after serving a 12-year sentence. Whatever he was in his pre-prison days, the now passive Ulrik (Stellan Skarsgård) has the opportunity to start his life over, only there isn't much of a life for him on the outside. He has no job, his wife left him, and his son is busy with a life of his own. Reliant on the charity of his old crime boss to find housing and gainful employment, Ulrik is not so much a broken man but a diminished one, a stranger in his own life. For all his passivity, Ulrik is the...

Reviewed at Fantastic Fest 2010.

Released from prison after serving 12 years for murder, Ulrik (Stellan Skarsgård) makes his own way into town. There's no one to pick him up. Everyone he looks up from his old life swears they thought he was getting out the next day or next month. The only one happy to see him is Rune (Bjørn Floberg), his old boss from his tough guy days, who's eager to have Ulrik pick up where he left off by killing the man who testified against him and put him in jail for murder -- not for any profit, really, just to prove Rune's not the type of fellow to be messed with.

"A Somewhat Gentle Man," directed by Hans Petter Moland, is an incredibly agreeable gangster movie, in part because Ulrik's not very interested in becoming a gangster again. Rune helps him get a day job as a mechanic...

Rating: 4/5

Writer: Kim Fupz Aakeson

Director: Hans Petter Moland

Cast: Stellan Skarsgard, Jannike Kruse, Jorunn Kjellsby, Bjorn Floberg

In tribute to the film itself, I’m making this opening paragraph of my A Somewhat Gentle Man review true (which should always be the case) and not complicated with unnecessary style or wordy window dressing – A Somewhat Gentle Man offers a simple premise, and with a subtle and assured hand plenty of humor and quiet heartbreak is brought out of its story of a man getting out of prison after 12 years and simply trying to live.

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