With the comprehensive line-up for TIFF 2015’s Midnight Madness, Documentary, Vanguard, Masters, and Cinematheque categories now out in the ether, we’re beginning to learn a bit more about this year’s cinematic attendees. One of which is Mads Mikkelsen’s upcoming Danish black comedy Men & Chicken, and we now have our first rather bizarre look at the great Dane’s all-new project.
Written and directed by Anders Thomas Jensen, the film has already garnered positive buzz ahead of its festival bow, and even from the debut footage there’s a palpable feeling of unease beneath the low-key aesthetic. Assuming the role of a patriarch of a critically impoverished rural family, Mikkelsen plays Elias who, along with his brother Gabriel, seek out to find their biological father following a shocking surprise when they uncover the will of the man they believed to be their old man.
A US distributor will largely depend on how well received Men & Chicken is received at TIFF in a few weeks’ time, though we’re hoping the acting clout of Mads Mikkelsen helps sway potential partners.
Men & Chicken revolves around two special-natured brothers, Elias and Gabriel (Mads Mikkelsen and David Dencik). Upon their father’s passing, they find out through their father’s will that they are adopted. Elias and Gabriel decide to seek out their natural father and set out for the island Ork, where their biological father lives. Here they discover a most paralyzing, yet liberating truth about themselves and their family.
