My contribution to The Oregonian's team coverage of PIFF, Week 2....
Stellan Skarsgård wears a cloud over his head better than just about any living actor. He's perfectly cast in "A Somewhat Gentle Man" as Ulrik, a sad-sack just off a 12-year prison stint who wanders out of the clink and glumly tries to re-integrate into civilian life. Various micromanaging characters with agendas try to bat him around -- including a two-bit crime boss, a type-A mechanic, and a hot-to-trot flophouse landlady -- while Ulrik tries to forge new relationships with his estranged family and a surly secretary.
Director Hans Petter Moland has crafted a low-key, sporadically violent dramedy in which the "laughs" lie in discomfort and tone and structure rather than any overt jokes (and Moland stages the most stunningly awkward sex scenes I've seen in a movie since "MacGruber"). The film's real draw is Skarsgård's restrained performance, and the fantastic small moments when Ulrik's stoic face cracks during fleeting moments of fatherly joy.
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B; Norway; 108 min. (showing at 2:15 p.m. on Feb. 21, Broadway; 6 p.m. on Feb. 22, Broadway; and 6 p.m. on Feb. 23, Broadway)
PIFF Week 2 coverage (The Oregonian, Friday, Feb. 18, 2011)
The 34th Portland Internation Film Festival
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