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Review

From its opening image — a couple, eyes wide open, violently shoving their tongues down each others throats in an act faintly resembling a kiss — The Bothersome Man declares its singularity. A mixture of barren landscapes and oddball humor, it pushes the audience into the depths of director Jens Lien’s imagination. Andreas Ramsfjell is a tired business man who tries to kill himself by jumping in front of a train. When he wakes up, he is on an unmarked bus en route to an unusual new world. Once there, he finds, among other oddities, a new job with a boss who seems to exist only to make him happy. But slowly, Andreas begins to realize that he has been taken to a kind of hell for those who attempt suicide. Here, no one can hurt themselves, no matter how hard they try, as evidenced by a hilariously intense scene in which Andreas is hit repeatedly by a train. Also, opposition is non-existent: Capitalism always finds a use for you, be it working a standard office job or scouring the streets for the remains of those who attempted to kill themselves the night before. Sinking deeper into his feverish nightmare, Andreas desperately searches for an escape. Filled with eye-popping imagery, Lien’s horrific morality tale is a rare and special visual treat. (Norwegian with English subtitles)

 -- Michael Lerman