In Order of Disappearance (2014)

... or "Kraftidioten" in the original version of the title, is another revenge thriller, as the last post, but this time in a different packaging having a consistent taint of dark comedy a la Coen brothers. I had before reviews for movies made in Norway, and unlike the more eastern neighbors these generally were too dry/cold to give a lasting impression. This time is one of the few exceptions ...

Nils Dickman is an immigrant from ... Sweden who made a career in ... driving a snow plow somewhere in Norway, reaching the level of winning the "man-of-the-year" title from the local community. This peaceful life is torn apart one day by a police call announcing his son's death following an overdose. And this brings a storm to Nils' life (no pun intended). Depressed and not getting how this happened since his son didn't do drugs Nils starts drinking, getting close to a suicide attempt. His wife blames him for ignoring their son's issues and leaves. But somehow in the end the truth is found ... (well, the movie actually starts with that) = the overdose was not a voluntary act but executed as an order of a local mobster involved in drug dealing. And from here, well ... "the revenge story" ...

It's not actually much of a story, but the movie is extremely well supported by the build-up of the characters and the acting. Nils slowly advances in the hierarchy of the local dealers up to the two groups controlling the area. And we have here a vegan sociopath obsessed by cleaning and terrorized by his former wife and an old Serb (played exceptionally by a Bruno Ganz mimicking Marlon Brando) who has the unfortunate idea to hire his youngest son as a mule. Basically all the dark humor comes from short interactions and from the weird situations placed in what seems to be a normal life context. It reminded me a bit of Martin McDonagh's "In Bruges" and "Seven Psychopats". That's pretty much what we have here too ...

Rating: 4 out of 5