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Movies / On DVD / The Bothersome Man
The Bothersome Man

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The Bothersome Man (2007)

70%
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70 %
Reviews Counted: 20 Fresh: 14  Rotten:6 Average Rating: 6.5/10
 
Consensus: Bothersome Man is a surreal, comedic meditation, thoughtfully and skillfully made.
 

How does the Tomatometer work?

The Tomatometer measures the percentage of positive reviews from Approved Tomatometer Critics for a certain movie.[-]

Runtime: 1 hr 35 mins

Theatrical Release: Aug 24, 2007 Limited

Synopsis: Andreas (42) awakens on a bus. He has no idea where he comes from nor where he’s going. The bus pulls up at a run-down bus stop, where a friendly little man greets him and drives him into town in a small car. Everything has been prepared for his arrival: a job, clothes and an apartment. But something... Andreas (42) awakens on a bus. He has no idea where he comes from nor where he’s going. The bus pulls up at a run-down bus stop, where a friendly little man greets him and drives him into town in a small car. Everything has been prepared for his arrival: a job, clothes and an apartment. But something isn’t quite right. The inhabitants of the city all seem strangely unemotional. He constantly sees Caretakers (a kind of omnipresent handymen) cleaning up and hiding anything that’s out of place in the well-functioning city. Andreas grows more and more uncomfortable, and in the end gets exhausted by the meaningless discussions about redecorating and choice of colors - the only topics people around him address. He tries to escape, but there’s no way out of the city... -- © Cannes Film Festival [More]

Genre: Dramas

Starring: Trond Fausa Aurvag, Petronella Barker, Per Schanning, Birgitte Larsen, Johannes Joner

Director: Jens Lien
Screenwriter: Per Schreiner
Producer: Jørgen Storm Rosenberg
Composer: Ginge Anvik

DVD Info

Release:

Jun 26, 2007

[DVD Details]

DVD Features:

  • Region 1
  • Keep Case
  • Anamorphic Widescreen

Audio:

  • Dolby Digital 2.0 - Norwegian
  • Subtitles - English

Additional Release Material:

  • Biographies
  • Bonus Short - 1. TRUE STORY - Stephanie Via

Buy It On DVD

Reviews

 
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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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Ratings Image
3/6

This absurdist black comedy from Norway is unlike any other movie you’ll see this year, but as allegory, it’s a bit too literal-minded.

Full Review | comment Comment
01/18/08
Joshua Land
Time Out New York
Ratings Image
3/4

Like the Swedish/Norwegian Kitchen Stories, it's a thoughtful Scandinavian film with a bent sense of humor.

Full Review | comment Comment
09/21/07
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press
Ratings Image
A-

Is it a religious allegory? Political statement? Horror film? Perhaps all three, perhaps none.

Full Review | comment Comment
09/21/07
Marc Mohan
Oregonian
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3.5/4

This is a bizarre social satire that mixes the mild-mannered humor of Jacques Tati with stunningly gory slapstick.

Full Review | comment Comment
09/20/07
Colin Covert
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
N/A

If only all the production elements added up to great movie. Instead, they seem like window dressing on a sill looking out to nowhere.

Full Review | comment Comment
09/06/07
Eric Monder
Film Journal International
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N/A

Bothersome Man is a stark yet strangely lyrical, multi-layered dirge for the absurdity of human fate in the face of figuratively deadening social conformity, and on the other hand, literal mortality.

Full Review | comment Comment
09/03/07
Prairie Miller
WBAI Web Radio
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3.5/4

An absurdly funny dystopian allegory that can proudly hold its own next to Truffaut's Fahrenheit 451 and Terry Gilliam's Brazil.

Full Review | comment Comment
08/29/07
Ken Fox
TV Guide's Movie Guide
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3/4

A deliberate, thought-provoking, existential meditation on the curse of creating a neverending heaven on Earth.

Full Review | comment Comment
08/25/07
Kam Williams
Sly Fox
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B+

[A] pitch-black, bone-dry comedy.

Full Review | comment Comment
08/25/07
Noel Murray
Onion AV Club
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4/5

A surreal nightmare of gleaming surfaces and razor-sharp edges, The Bothersome Man unfolds in a sterile city where nothing is quite as it seems.

Full Review | comment Comment
08/24/07
Jeannette Catsoulis
New York Times
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Ratings Image
N/A

Director Jens Lien mostly favors the clean and bland, succumbing to much of the same pod-person impassivity that the movie purports to critique.

Full Review | comment Comment
08/21/07
Rob Nelson
Village Voice
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Ratings Image
1.5/4

There are several ways to take this bothersome trifle, none of which are at all resonant.

Full Review | comment Comment
08/09/07
Ed Gonzalez
Slant Magazine
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3/5

It's a delectable premise, rendered with smooth efficiency but we never really get beneath the surface of this shallow parallel reality.

Full Review | comment Comment
06/02/07
Steve Rose
Guardian [UK]
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3/5

This Ikea-furnished existential crisis marks Lien out as a talent to watch for the future.

Full Review | comment Comment
06/02/07
Wendy Ide
Times [UK]
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4/5

A few flaws but this is visually captivating and psychologically disturbing.

Full Review | comment Comment
05/25/07
David Parkinson
Empire Magazine
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3/4

Made with formidable assurance, a compelling look, quiet skill and impressive economy.

Full Review | comment Comment
03/15/07
Michael Wilmington
Chicago Tribune
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Ratings Image
3/5

full review in Greek

Full Review | comment Comment
01/08/07
Joseph Proimakis
Movies for the Masses
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N/A

Oddball futuristic fun with a serious, if confused, message.

Full Review | comment Comment
10/28/06
Nigel Floyd
Time Out
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N/A

A dark, nasty little movie that's never quite as deep or as clever as it imagines itself to be.

Full Review | comment Comment
09/23/06
Martha Fischer
Cinematical
Ratings Image
N/A

Delightfully droll.

Full Review | comment Comment
05/22/06
Leslie Felperin
Variety
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