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Bookmark this pageThe Ape (2009)
Director: Jesper Ganslandt
Movie review
From Time Out London
Ordinary-looking, middle-aged Krister (Olle Sarri) wakes on the bathroom floor, spattered with blood. He washes, dresses and goes to work. He’s irritable, out of sorts, yelling at his clients. The world around him is vague but intrusive – the lights too bright, the noise too loud. He goes to the gym, then drives home. The living room looks like a slaughterhouse.Jesper Ganslandt’s third feature is a work of psychological observation in the most literal sense: all we can do is watch. There’s no commentary, no judgment and precious little insight, so what we’re left with is a simple, near-real-time portrait of a taciturn, unreadable man trying to deal with the extremity of his existence. Sarri is phenomenal as Krister, an icy, utterly unpredictable blank canvas. Ganslandt directs with tremendous precision, creating a mood of brooding, implacable threat. But his refusal to dig any deeper into his character results in a compelling but finally (and perhaps intentionally) rather shallow portrait of human behaviour.
Author: Tom Huddleston
Time Out London Issue 2064: 11– 17 March, 2010
User reviews of this film
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- Nora said...
- Posted on Mar 27 2010 08:46 Brilliant! Sucked me in so intensly that I couldn't stand up from my seat for few minutes afterwards. Should have been out on DVD ages ago! Can't wait to watch it again and show it to all I know.
- Report as inappropriate
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- stan said...
- Posted on Oct 23 2009 12:02 Please put a spoiler alert above this review! Not very intelligent to divulge the key point of the film, which other, more clever, critics have refrained from doing.
- Report as inappropriate
Cast & crew
Director: Jesper Ganslandt
Cast: Olle Sarri, Francoise Joyce, Sean Pietrulewicz, Niclas Gillis
Genre(s): Drama
Duration: 81 mins
UK Release: Mar 12 2010
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