2008: Terribly Happy (aka Frygtelig lykkelig) (7)

What else happened this year? Global Financial Crash. Boom.

What is the plot - in one sentence? In Denmark, a probably-disgraced policeman heads from the city to work in  a small, weird southern Jutland town which has many secrets.

I don't have time, just spoil it for me? Pff... by the end of it, he's been involved in a murder, and is blackmailed into staying in the weird little town. The bog seems to be a body disposal system, and it's implied that the town is important for the drugs trade. Oh, and he shot his wife? Was that the disgrace he had? Probably.

What is the meaning of the title? I guess it's ironic, they're not terribly happy there. I'll not rule out a pun from the Danish original, as it's a translation. 

Here's the [source] for this image. This is a shot form the movie, but it only arrives at the very end. Dirty Harry this isn't.

Anything that's not aged well? Does a woman get slapped around? YES! In fact it's a central plot point. The whole town knows about it: when the kid goes for a walk with a pram, everyone knows that her mother (the only attractive lady in town) is getting beaten by her husband, a local tough guy who looks like Ted Cruz. This spurs the police guy into action. Other than that, this is aged in that it's pretty forgettable.

Any thoughts? This was weird. It had a real Twin Peaks, Australian Outback vibe to it. The whole town was grim. It's also weird that everyone in it looked as though they could be British, and I don't mean that as a compliment. I've been to Copenhagen and everyone is almost painfully attractive, it must be a real effort to find people that unattractive to be in this.

What is weird is that at the beginning, he's told 'This isn't your business...' by the townsfolk, but by the end, it is his business, as he manages to drunkenly get involved in every scandal in the town. So this movie is really about fitting in to a new place. Also, was he only there for a couple of weeks? He had a complete breakdown and personality change in that time. He didn''t do very well.

Would you recommend this? Eh. not really. I watched this a couple of weeks ago and have almost completely forgotten it already.

Final thoughts? It mentioned that this is based on a true story, if that's the case he's a terrible cop. He slaps shoplifting kids, has sex with a married man's wife, does no policework, and murders a guy in cold blood. However, there's no direct evidence that he is a racist, so he's probably better than most cops. Yep, I went there. 

 That's enough for today, hope you're all going great guns.

 Want more of this uninformative nonsense? Every year I've done so far can be found here!