Day 143 - The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared

Day 143         Hundraåringen som klev ut genom fönstret och försvann (The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared) [2013]

                          

Screenplay                    Felix Herngren, Hans Ingemansson & Jonas Jonasson

Based on                       ‘Hundraåringen som klev ut genom fönstret och försvann’ by Jonas Jonasson

Director                         Felix Herngren

Cinematography            Göran Hallberg

Music                            Matti Bye

Leads                            Robert Gustafsson, Iwar Wiklander, David Wiberg, Mia Skäringer, Jens Hultén, Alan Ford

Production                     Buena Vista International, NICE FLX Pictures, Nordsvensk Filmunderhallning, TV4, Film i Väst, Tele Munchen Gruppe, Wild Bunch, C More Entertainment, StudioCanal, Svenska Filminstitutet, Nordisk Film & TV Fond

IMDb                                 7.1/10

Rotten Tomatoes                67%

Perhaps the most longwinded film details section ever? I have inadvertently managed to watch three very different films in a row from 2013; Swedish, Italian and American cinema. Sounds like the start of a ‘walk into the bar’ joke. This was a pretty refreshing film and reminded me of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (weirdly also a 2013 production) a bit due to the relaxed way it was filmed. The movie is based on a best-selling book of the same name, but I had heard of neither until a friend recommended it to me recently. It tells the story of Allan (Gustafsson), an OAP who decides to leave his retirement home for a bit of an adventure, this present-day tale is intercut with snapshots of Allan’s crazy life and his general enjoyment for blowing things up. Allan is the Swedish Forrest Gump. I say this because it seems to be a European version of Gump, in the way that Allan has done incredible things and met famous people, whilst not really trying to do so or caring about it when he does. The only difference between Forrest and Allan is Allan’s lack of love interest, which again felt original. Romance seems to be a necessary ingredient to so many films and it was uplifting to have such an inspirational character not get swept up in a relationship. It is a funny film, nailing that dark Scandinavian humour where all the characters are consistently blasé. It was good to see Alan Ford in his usual gangster role (has he ever played anything else?), shouting sweet nothings down the phone at various people. The acting wasn’t anything to write home about, but the cast got the job done and helped to produce a good indie film that is easy to watch, entertaining and provides a nice change from the Hollywood blockbusters which are slowly driving me insane. I'm not sure how to feel about the potential Hollywood remake of the film with Will Ferrell to play Allan...

Acting                              3 / 4

Writing                          3.5 / 4

Cinematography               3 / 4

Music                               3 / 4

HWF rating               3.5 / 4