The 100-Year-Old Man who Climbed out the Window and Disappeared
DIRECTOR: Felix Herngren
CAST: Robert Gustafsson, Iwar Wiklander, David Wiberg, Mia Skaringer, Jens Hultén,
CLASSIFICATION: 16 LVP
RUNNING TIME: 114 minutes
RATING: ****
THIS SLOW-BURNING meditation on the concept of “take life as it comes” also manages to explore some quirky side roads along the way. It turns the novel into a globe-trotting adventure populated by some strange individuals.
While it appears on the art nouveau circuit because of the subtitles, this is not an art movie in the sense of an artistic experiment not meant for mass appeal. Everything about this film is appealing – a charming main character, international espionage, explosions, exotic locales and even a really smart elephant.
This is partly a slice of life story, but what a life! As he turns 100 years old, Allan Karlsson (Gustafsson, pictured) decides this old age home thing is not for him, even if the mayor is about to visit, and he climbs out the window and wanders off.
As he slowly, oh so slowly, makes his way as far as his limited funds allow, Allan runs into a cross-section of Swedish life, from the matter-of-fact, permanently slightly sozzled ex-station master Julius (Wiklander) to the skinhead with the anger management issues. Toss in a couple of gangsters, permanent student and master-of-no-trades Benny (Wiberg) and good-natured pragmatist Gunilla (Skaringer) and we’re sorted.
He doesn’t exactly have a plan, but things just keep on happening and Allan just goes with the flow – and that’s really the point here.
Turns out this is not the first time Allan has set off on an adventure, and as we see his latest escapade unfold, we also go back and forth in time to see how he meets all sorts of people and became embroiled in the most harebrained of schemes, which turned out to have a massive impact on others.
The now unfolds parallel with the past, but through it all one thread runs true – keeping to the advice that his mother gave him as a child, Karl simply takes events in his stride, never pre-empting his responses. Plus, he really loved making things blow up.
It’s inadvertently darkly funny and a whole lot of fun, but also poignant and just such a feel-good movie.
Karl’s interaction with heads of state is funny precisely because he doesn’t take them very seriously. It is only long after the fact that the significance of people and events become apparent, to him and to others.
While he is in the moment, he is simply there and the absurdities pile up. Apparently Robert Gustafsson is one of Sweden’s top comedians, but he underplays this role, creating a slightly distracted, almost autistic (or at least autistic as it is portrayed on the big screen) character.
It’s light and slightly naive, absurd and sweet, and ultimately very entertaining.
If you liked Forrest Gump or Tilsammans, you will like this.