'Woke' or 'anti-woke', that is the question

The author of the black comedy Riders of Justice He teams up with the actor again. Mads Mikkelsen to construct another bewildering mix of film genres and tones. The protagonists of the story are two brothers who seem to have been taken from different films: Anker is a tough man who belongs to a thriller The criminal, while the ultrasensitive Manfred could inhabit a drama about the challenges of autism spectrum disorder. Manfred has been guarding the loot from a robbery while Anker was in prison, but, when the two meet again, the former claims that he is John Lennon and that he knows nothing about any hidden money.

In the film's frenetic opening act, Anders Thomas Jensen unfolds a series of unusual situations, from abrupt plot twists and physical gags to bursts of violence. Gradually, a (perhaps gentle?) satire on identities and diversity takes shape, which is also a harrowing family drama about the legacy of an intolerant father. Some scenes could easily become memes. antiwokeBut Jensen also seems to be warning about the cruelty of not accepting differences, of demanding integration and normality. Perhaps the film loses some momentum. And the touches of pitch-black humor can make some emotional passages sound contrived (the music amplifies this risk). However, these frictions, polysemy, and contradictions are interesting: they remind us that cinema doesn't necessarily have to satisfy pre-established expectations through conventional formulas.