Highly Overrated But Still Good

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

DARK HORSE (Dagur Kári - Denmark/Iceland 2005)."Volksne mennesker" is the second feature from Icelandic director Dagur Kári, after his much praised debut "Nói Albinói" (2003), which I haven't seen yet, but I can't wait after catching this little gem. For this film, he relocated the story from the icy coasts of Iceland to the Danish capital of Copenhagen, where we meet Daniel (Jacob Cedergren), a graffiti artist who sprays some stylish love declarations on the wall. Not his own love interests, but from others who want to surprise their girlfriends and pay him some under the counter money for it. In many ways Daniel is the working definition of the term loser. He has no money, no work, he's lazy and hasn't got a clue what going on around him ('How am I gonna be a father? I don't even know the name of the prime minister?'). He doesn't really care about anything and doesn't bother to pay the rent until he's kicked out. Above all, his social skills (more clumsy than impolite) leave a lot to be desired, but by sheer luck, charm and good looks he seems to be passing by just well. The film is filled with many absurd but very funny conversations, that are sometimes explained through Daniel's supposed dyslexia. When Daniel drives around the city and ignores a 'no turn left' sign, he excuse to the police is: 'I didn't understand, I thought I was obliged to turn left, I'm dyslexic.' Almost every character in the film seems to have lost it, and can be categorized from a little quirky to completely off the wall. His obese friend Roger (Nicolas Bro), nicknamed "Grandpa", works at some kind of sleep research clinic, and dreams of becoming a professional football referee. He is just as crooked as him, but in a slightly different way with a rather misplaced sense of self-righteousness and self-confidence. But one day Daniel meets the mysterious girl Franc (a wonderful performance by Tilly Scott Pedersen, I'm absolutely smitten about her), who works at a local bakery. When the two meet, she is under the influence of psychedelic mushrooms and vomits all over the floor of the bakery and gives her a ride home in his little Fiat. But he falls in love with this girl, who still lives with her twisted sex-starved mother and is practically the female version of him, going through life just as careless as he does. Near the end the initial comedic element makes way for a more dramatic turn, when the characters have to face some real choices. In the first hour, they're all so sketchily introduced, it hard to see them as real characters. And I wasn't very impressed by the much praised 16mm black-and-white cinematography by Manuel Alberto Claro, which was kind of sloppy and inconsistent, with many scenes inexplicably down lit. But these flaws are easily forgiven, with this kind of fresh and observative writing and all these wonderful performances. Tilly Scott Pedersen's smile and her infatuating on-screen presence alone had me going till the end. This is not just some desperately quirky indie, it's filled with wonderful characters, very funny and with a beautiful music score as well. In some scenes, the score seemed exactly the same as in the German MUXMAÜSCHENSTILL (2004). Not a perfect film, but very enjoyable. I'm looking forward to any of Dagur Kári's future work.Camera Obscura --- 8/10

A lot of art movies are beautiful but ain't fun. Dark horse on the other hand is different. The movie is cinematographic really beautiful (a lot of the shot's could be art photo's) but besides that is a nice story mixed with some dark humor. I have a spot for movies that start out strong, and this one really had a nice opening! The scenery reminds me of French movies from the sixties, maybe that's because the movie is not in color (though it was filmed in color), the looks of the girl, the fiat 500 he drives, the interiors they used or just because of the title poster (they lay in front of the fiat on a field). But it gives the Dark Horse something nice, all together the best movie a saw in months.It's a shame that so few have seen this movie, it was just me and my girlfriend at the cinema and given the number of votes here on IMDb or rottentomatoes it is not very popular.

This movie is about the fortunes and misfortunes of three socially not so well integrated young people and a judge. By following the life of these four characters several features of contemporary life are illuminated. In a funny way during the first half of the movie, more serious in the second.I like Dark Horse very well. It has lots of very different going ons, without becoming boring or hard to follow. Its creators arranged the movie in twelve chapters, probably to avoid confusing the audience with the movies richness. Through this richness of different life episodes, the four main characters are very well explored. In this, the movie has a positive attitude to live without being sentimental or uncritical.In spite of the first part of Dark Horse taking a humorous look at the three young people, it never ridicules them. The change from the funny part to the serious one is short and fluid. Despite changing its tone this way, the movie remains coherent. The second part hasn't many lines for its protagonists to speak. Nonetheless, mostly by images, the judge, introduced in this part, is well explored.All in all a movie deserving it to be seen by a large audience.

for those who don't really fit in..there is dagur kari! he turns a simple yet beautiful story into something almost magical. after noi albinoi, the story of a smart but socially dysfunctional teen, dagur presents daniel's story, a dyslexic graffiti artist (let's call it that) who seems to be as irresponsible as his girlfriend franc..and his referee wannabe friend, grandpa..oh..and a strange judge that disappears a story of coming of age? not quite..a story about people that don't fit in this society but seem to be attracted to each others..the final image of the movie shows you not only the new family (daniel's) but also the fiats 500 that seem to have found each others..a movie filmed in black and white with only one image presented in colors..(as noi albinoi is filmed in colors but has several scenes in black and white)..the moment of an awakening maybe.. there is comedy..grandpa the fat referee that wants to break the ten commands in one single day..franc's mother that is more interested in men than her own daughter and ends up being a grandma in more than one way..there is drama..a judge that leaves his wife and daughter after a night of reflection in a hotel.great lines.."Spare me that love-bullshit. Love is useless before the age of 90" that don't just amuse one but also make you ponder about life (bla, bla in a good way). this is one of the best movies i've seen this year. i can't wait to see dagur kari's next movie.