Men & Chicken
| Men & Chicken | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| Directed by | Anders Thomas Jensen |
| Written by | Anders Thomas Jensen |
| Starring |
David Dencik Mads Mikkelsen Nikolaj Lie Kaas Søren Malling Nicolas Bro |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 104 minutes |
| Country | Denmark |
| Language | Danish |
Men & Chicken (Danish: Mænd og Høns) is a 2015 Danish comedy film directed by Anders Thomas Jensen. It was shown in the Vanguard section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival.[1] It was one of three films shortlisted by Denmark to be their submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 88th Academy Awards.[2]
Plot
Two "brothers" (Gabriel and Elias) are posthumously informed after their father's death that they both are adopted half-brothers. They discover that their biological father is Evelin Thanatos a geneticist specialized in stem cell research. To learn about their mother and to meet their biological father, the brothers choose to visit the Island of Ork where they find out that they have three other half-brothers (Franz, Josef and Gregor). Both Gabriel and Elias are welcomed with a beating but in due course the brothers get along. All five half-brothers have hare-lips and unattractive facial features or deformities,
Soon Gabriel and Elias discover that their father is dead and the other brothers have kept it as a secret. Gabriel contacts Flemming, the Mayor of the Island, and makes arrangements for a proper burial. Gabriel, a professor, recognises their difficult peculiar and poor social skills of his brothers. He tries to alter the lifestyle, but after a series of unsuccessful efforts he has had enough and he abandon the house, leaving Elias behind.
While Gabriel is away the four brothers go out to find women and jobs but it ends up in a series of mishaps. Gabriel notices strange animals around the island and remembers other animals he had seen in the house and goes back to investigate. At the house Gabriel opens a secret hatch which he had intended to look at since his arrival. He finds the preserved fetuses of many cross-species of farm animals and sees experimentation done on humans using stem cells and their father's research. The brothers come to the realization from the research notes that each of them is genetically part-animal and that their mothers were subjected to unethical experiments and fatal caesarean births,
In the end the five brothers stay together in the house. The final scene shows them surrounded by family and children, despite the fact that all the brothers are sterile. It is hinted that the brothers have continued their father's work in order to have children.
Cast
- David Dencik as Gabriel
- Mads Mikkelsen as Elias
- Nikolaj Lie Kaas as Gregor
- Søren Malling as Franz
- Nicolas Bro as Josef
- Ole Thestrup as Mayor Flemming
References
- ↑ "Toronto Film Festival Adds 60+ Titles". IndieWire. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
- ↑ "Tre vidt forskellige film kæmper om dansk Oscar-kandidatur". DR.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 24 September 2015.