Film Review: Old Men in New Cars (Gamle mænd i nye biler/ In China They Eat Dogs II, 2002)

9 months ago

(source: tmdb.org)

You made a cool film and want to further explore its setting and characters in another, but its ending make such effort very difficult. That was the problem Danish director Lasse Spang Olsen found himself after success of his 1999 action comedy In China They Eat Dogs. He solved it three years later by directing a prequel titled Old Men in New Cars.

Kim Bodnia again plays Harald, hardcore Copenhagen criminal who gets called by Munken a.k.a. “Monk” (played by Jens Okking), gang boss, foster father and his mentor. Munken is dying of cancer and wants to see his son Ludvig (played by Torkel Petersson) before he dies. The problem is that Ludvig is currently in Swedish prison serving long sentence for multiple murders. Harald is tasked of setting up Ludvig’s escape, which he accomplishes with the help of Martin (played by Nikolaj Lie Kaas) and Peter (played by Tomas Villum Jensen), two inept chefs who reluctantly joined the scheme. With father and son being reunited, Ludvig and Harald are tasked of obtaining life-saving liver transplant, which is going to be financed with a bank robbery. Things soon get out of hand and Harald has to deal with Montenegrin gangsters led by Ratko (played by Slavko Labović), special police and woman named Mile (played by Iben Hjejle).

In Old Men in New Cars Olsen repeats his successful formula of mixing breath taking action scenes and escalating violence with Tarantinoesque black humour. Kim Bodnia, one of the most internationally recognisable Danish actors of our times, delivers another great performance and plays protagonist who, despite his actions being violent and moral alignment questionable, represents something of a bedrock of normalcy in increasingly insane world of Olden’s film. Iben Hjejle, another Danish star who was reaching international fame at the time, is also very effective in her role. Like in many quality prequels, another source of entertainment for the audience are ironic references and hints about the events and characters’ fates in the future. Inevitable comparison between two films, however, make Old Men in New Cars slightly inferior, and this is mostly because of somewhat underwhelming ending. Olsen’s film nevertheless deserves recommendation, and not only for viewers who are already fans of Danish black comedies.

RATING: 6/10 (++)