"Men and Chicken" the latest film by Anders – Thomas Jensen was released on May 25. This paper is not the review (If the review of Men and Chicken interests you, it was also made by Justfocus) but is a comparative analysis of this work with the film "Adam's Apple", also by the Danish director, released in France in 2006.
A man with an impressive track record
Anders – Thomas Jensen (born 1972) is a Danish film director, screenwriter and actor. If he has played in two films, it is notably behind the camera that he develops his talent.
On the one hand, as a screenwriter, with about forty films to his credit, including the controversial Antichrist (2009), which he co-wrote with his colleague and fellow citizen Lars Von Trier , and on the other hand, as a director. He has directed three short films (Ernst & lyset (1997), Wolfgang (1998) and Valgaften) and four feature films (Lumières Dansantes (2000), Les Bouchers Verts (2003), Adam's Apple and now men and chicken).
All of these achievements have been nominated and awarded in various regional festivals. But it was his last short film (Valgaften) that allowed him to obtain in 1999, the Oscar for best short fiction film.
Different films and yet similar textures
Adam's Apple and Men and Chicken are the Danish director's last two works. Although made with 10 years of difference, it emanates from them the same feeling: that of misunderstanding. It is a misunderstanding that comes from the viewer himself. That is to say that the spectator, caught between several fires, does not know which emotion to surrender: joy, sadness, disgust (especially in the 2016 film) … Of course, joy is the most present emotion throughout these films … Or should I specify: a sneer that can go to bursts of laughter, according to the passages, according to the humor.
It is true that Anders-Thomas Jensen plays with a particular humor, at once offbeat, absurd and sometimes dark. It disorients a little more the spectator who does not know where to put himself. In Adam's Apple, a scene is a glaring example: a woman comes to see a clergyman to tell him about her misfortune. She is pregnant, and doctors have told her that her child has a high probability of being born disabled, so she is thinking about having an abortion. Throughout this scene, the priest thinks only of one thing. The latter asked that we bring him and the woman cakes. However, on one plate, there are more cakes than on the other. So he begins to criticize the one who brought the cakes. This horrible scene for this woman who confides in her misfortune and who would fill us with emotion usually, loses all its pathos at the very moment when the camera is on the cakes. A-T Jensen comes to pierce our bubble of sadness. There remains only one embarrassment, but not just any discomfort, the one that leaves us with a smile in the corner. That's the strength of the director. It is the same for the film Men and chicken, when all the panoramic scenes are cut by the intervention of a character who comes to break (grotesquely most of the time) the contemplation of the magnificent landscapes. Nature never seems peaceful, human presence is constant.
Beyond this personal touch, there are also the "usual" forms of humor such as comedy, with scenes in Men and Chicken that seem inspired by the three stooges, where the characters knock each other out with pots and pans and pieces of wood. As well as the situation comedy, when in Adam's Apple, we realize that whatever problems the clergyman endures, he always takes them well. It is on this shift that the director likes to play.
However, if these two films are full of humor, this is only the coating, it is only the tip of the iceberg. Because at heart, these two stories are sad stories, about lost men, who do their best to survive whatever their misfortune.
There are certain scenes that plunge us into the depths of the film, in an environment where laughter fades in favor of melancholy. In front of us, the masks worn by the characters rise to reveal their deepest feelings. This is also the cinema of Anders-Thomas Jensen.
A favorite actor, a talented actor
Tim Burton and Johnny Depp, Woody Allen and Scarlett Johansson, Scorsese and Harvey Keitel, Robert De Niro and Leonardo Di Caprio …
Most directors have their favorite actors/actresses, with whom a simple look is enough to agree. Both share the same vision and this similar approach allows them to work efficiently, fluidly. This is how Mads Mikkelsen can be defined for Anders-Thomas Jensen.
This 50-year-old Danish actor became known worldwide by interpreting in 2006, in Casino Royale the character of James Bond's enemy "figure" (played for the first time by Daniel Craig). He also played the title role of " Hannibal " Lecter in the eponymous series.
He is also expected to play a role in the upcoming Star Wars: Rogue One as well as the upcoming Marvel Studios film, Doctor Strange. All these projects testify to his importance in American cinema.
Nevertheless, he continues to play in Danish films such as the drama The Hunt by Thomas Vinterberg (2012) which allowed him to win the same year, the prize for male interpretation at the Cannes Film Festival. Festival of which he was this year, a member of the jury, chaired by George Miller.
This actor is so successful, because he is a chameleon, he slips perfectly into his roles.
Whether it is the role of the "villain", a role that seems to be labeled in English-language films, rightly, given his gaze that in Hannibal would almost equal that of Anthony Hopkins, or whether it is roles of people who suffer, his characters seem to stick to his skin.
In Men and Chicken are talent of "shapeshifter" is undeniable, as much by the behavior of his marginal character (with scenes of masturbation more than strange) as by his features, the presence of a beak of hares on the face of the actor, as well as curly hair make him almost unrecognizable.
