Flickering Lights (2000)

Cautiously Recommended

Denmark/Sweden

Feature Film

Original Title: Blinkende lygter

Writer/Director: Anders Thomas Jensen

Cinematographer: Eric Kress

Composers: Bent Fabricius-Bjerre, Jeppe Kaas

Cast: Søren Pilmark, Ulrich Thomsen, Mads Mikkelsen, Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Sofie Gråbøl, Iben Hjejle, Frits Helmuth, Ole Thestrup, Peter Andersson

Four childhood friends – small time gangsters – in debt to the local bigwig, go on the run, deciding to run a dilapidated and decidedly isolated restaurant in some far-flung backwater that they chance upon, in prolific screenwriter Jensen’s diverting feature directorial debut, a strange mix of sentimentality, brutal violence, and adolescent humour, which is perhaps most notable for featuring an uncharacteristically subtle performance from Thomsen. Iain.Stott