I enjoyed this movie, like I enjoyed everything I've seen by Anders Thomas Jensen. The comments here suggest that Danes are somewhat deprecatory about the general quality of Danish films, but most of the Danish films with international distribution in recent years have been truly outstanding. Maybe it's because we who live outside Denmark don't get to see the awful Danish films. However I have also seen much of the recent cinematic output of Sweden and Germany, and even the internationally released stuff is mostly crap.
In any case, "Flickering Lights" is another outstanding Jensen film, but very derivative of the previous year's "I Kina Spiser De Hunde". Again you have the post-Tarantino world of four ultraviolent but quirky and amusing gangsters. As in "I Kina", again you have the sentimental gangsters trying to turn a new leaf and do good deeds. Again they are thwarted by their psychosis, incompetence, and by the fact that they have double-crossed another bunch of even more vicious gangsters. Again the gangsters work as cooks. Again their sentimentality causes them to dissipate their earnings from a robbery. Again the film closes with a bloody shootout in a bar. Again there is a quasi-sentimental ending undermined by hilariously vicious irony.
Despite the similarities of scenario, there is no repetition of dialogue from the earlier film. Jensen is again very funny and original with his dialogue and details. This film, though, seems more parochial in its references, and there seems more that non-Danes would have trouble understanding. Still, it's well worth checking this one out. It's head and shoulders above the other rubbish out there.
In any case, "Flickering Lights" is another outstanding Jensen film, but very derivative of the previous year's "I Kina Spiser De Hunde". Again you have the post-Tarantino world of four ultraviolent but quirky and amusing gangsters. As in "I Kina", again you have the sentimental gangsters trying to turn a new leaf and do good deeds. Again they are thwarted by their psychosis, incompetence, and by the fact that they have double-crossed another bunch of even more vicious gangsters. Again the gangsters work as cooks. Again their sentimentality causes them to dissipate their earnings from a robbery. Again the film closes with a bloody shootout in a bar. Again there is a quasi-sentimental ending undermined by hilariously vicious irony.
Despite the similarities of scenario, there is no repetition of dialogue from the earlier film. Jensen is again very funny and original with his dialogue and details. This film, though, seems more parochial in its references, and there seems more that non-Danes would have trouble understanding. Still, it's well worth checking this one out. It's head and shoulders above the other rubbish out there.