Institute of Contemporary Arts

Press and Awards

Press acclaim

Variety

"This bone-dry black comedy... recalls eerie worlds of David Lynch, while the visuals' cold palette of neutrals and figure-dwarfing landscapes evoke work of Swedish director Roy Andersson... Shades of Jacques Tati's menacingly modernist houses are also detectable, and just a whiff of his whimsy."

 

Time Out

"In this... intriguing satirical comedy, a bewildered man is given a job as an accountant in a futuristic blue-grey world of clinical office buildings and soulless designer homes. His colleagues are polite but cool, their dinner parties oddly stilted affairs. There are hints of something lurking behind this façade of frigid normality: a man is impaled on the railings below an open office window; the sound of children's laughter is nowhere to be heard; the plaintive strains of a musical instrument emanate from a lighted basement window. Oddball futuristic fun."

 

Screen International

"The Bothersome Man manages the 'surreal adult fable' genre with enough panache to make it as ripe for export as Bent Hamer's KITCHEN STORIES." [...] Lien and Schreiner confound our expectations with a hilarious comic-horror set piece."

 

Variety, May 22, 2006: Leslie Felperin

"Lead Fausa Aurvag deserves kudos for just-so balance between underplayed expression and exaggerated physicality."

 

Eye Weekly

"Somewhere between and Songs From the Second Floor lies the world portrayed in this droll Norwegian satire of bourgeois mores. [...] Jens Lien's dystopic science fiction fantasy may have many familiar elements (the increasingly bizarre final acts bear the influence of Delicatessen, too) but it has plenty of its own moments of invention."

 

Toronto Star

"What's a guy got to do to commit suicide in peace? In Jens Lien's wry new comedy, it's a lot. [...] Black Norwegian comedy in the cool style of Bent Hamer, whose Kitchen Stories was similarly bent."

 

Now Magazine

"A brave new world inspired by Tati and Tarkovsky by way of David Lynch and Roy Andersson, this comic satire of Norwegian bourgeois society is crammed with wild observations about the emotional life (and lack of it) of Scandinavians."

 

Twitch

"The Bothersome Man is a clever, darkly humorous, deeply absurd critique of Scandanavian social engineering,... a grimly funny piece of work."

The Youth Jury of the Athens International Film Festival, October 2006

"In this metaphorical interpretation of an existentialist crisis, the director reflects on the difficulties of adapting to a perfect, rigid and sterile world. Jens Lien shows a profound knowledge of all audiovisual tools, brilliantly combining sound, space, image and dialogue in a surprisingly delicate film. The stylized photography and sound design, playing on sounds and smells, expand and complete the director's universe, emphasizing the dramatic moments, while at the same time adding a touch of irony to the mix. The minimalist acting and absurdist dialogue reveals large doses of black humor underlying the drama. Precisely directed, The Bothersome Man walks the fine line between drama and comedy, always at the edge of reality, without ever loosing pace."

 

Le Film Francais

"Half-way between the universe of Brazil and that of the cult series Le Prisonnier, the film can be understood on several levels and boasts a caustic and jubilant black humor."

 

Les fiches du cinema

"Jens Lien creates an extremely personal universe here, even if there is no lack of references [...] The mix is astonishing, explosive and profound. Indeed, the film's playful approach helps us plunge into the heart of universal questions and fears. Pushing the phantasm of happiness and perfection to extremes, it unmasks its absurdity, from a philosophical point of view, and its danger, from a political point of view. But the cherry on the cake of this modern tale remains its irresistibly 'nonsense' humor."

 

Télérama

"The Bothersome Man, one of the pearls dredged from the sea of films running in the Semaine de la critique." [...] "The filmmaker captivated us till the end"

 

Télérama

"Five favorites to follow in Cannes ... a humorous, absurd film with moments of fantasy as well as of insolent and invigorating burlesque elements. The best: a scene in the subway where the nerdy-looking filmmaker fuses the laughs of Hellzapoppin with the black humor of a young Polanski."

 

Le Figaro

"With The Bothersome Man, the Norwegian Jens Lien ventures into the fantastic tale which he dots with surrealist episodes, absurd situations and oddly jarring dialogues."

 

Mcinéma.com

"In The Bothersome Man one finds that dry, pinched-lipped humor that is often found in Aki Kaurismäki, but also in many Nordic productions (Junk Mail, Noi Albinoi). The filmmaker sprinkles it with some ludicrous elements that disturb at first, then appear so crude that they end up being amusing."

 

 

Awards and Prizes

Brussels European Film Festival 2006
BeTV Prize of Best Film

Neuchatel International Fantastic Film Festival 2006
HR Giger Award " Narcisse " for Best Fantastic Feature
Silver Melies for Best European feature

IFF Arsenals Riga 2006
FIPRESCI Prize
Magic Crystal

Athens IFF 2006
City of Athens Best Director Award 2006

Festival Internacional de Cinema de Catalunya (Sitges) 2006
Best Production Design for Are Sjaastad

Hamptons International Film Festival 2006
Golden Starfish Narrative Feature Film Award
Kodak Prize for John Christian Rosenlund: Best Cinematography

Festival du Nouveau Cinéma Montréal 2006
Jury's Special Mention
AQCC Award (Association Québécoise des Critiques de Cinéma

Göteborg International Film Festival 2007
FIPRESCI Award

Gerardmer Film Festival Fantasticart 2007
Grand Prix
Youth Jury Award
International Press Award
SCI FI Award

Fantasporto International Film Festival 2007
Special Mention of the Jury

Cinequest Film Festival 2007
Maverick Spirit Award