BFI London Film Festival: Men and Chicken

BFI London Film Festival: 238 films. From 71 countries. 16 cinemas. 12 days. One Festival.

Elias (Mads Mikkelsen, poles apart here from his suave Hannibal incarnation) and Gabriel are brothers. They couldn’t be more dissimilar and have the strangest of fraternal bonds. A revelation after their father’s death sends them to the otherworldly island of Ork to try to make sense of who they are.

It is is one hell of a special place, where life is basic, humour is bawdy, pheromones rage, unusual passions are indulged and where you’re equally likely to get whacked with a blunt instrument as to be invited to indulge in a spot of bestiality. If that sounds a little weird… well, yes it is. Welcome to the dark and twisted mind of writer/director Anders Thomas Jensen. This extreme, animalistic comedy is black as pitch, but has the sweetest of hearts. The rest of the cast are knockout too, outrageously politically incorrect and sporting some truly extraordinary make-up and prosthetics.

(Notes by Sarah Lutton)

Men and Chicken, dir. Anders Thomas Jensen, Denmark, Germany 2015, 104 mins.