Director Jens Lien

Göteborg 2007

In winter, in the second city of Sweden, takes place a festival where the best Nordic films of the year are screened. There, our jury chose to prize the Norwegian film The Bothersome Man (Den Brysomme Mannen) by Jens Lien, for its original and brilliant storytelling, its humorous view of modern western society and its statement against homologation and conformism.

The film, which premiered in the Critics' Week in Cannes in 2006, had already received our prize in Riga last Septmber. But the jury found it to be simply much more accomplished than the other films in the Nordic section. Furthermore, they considered that it had no Swedish distribution yet.

30th Göteborg International Film Festival, January 26 — February 5
Details of the International Critics' Prize
The festival's official website

The Bothersome Noise of Freedom. Marco Spagnoli appreciates the many levels of Jens Lien's The Bothersome Man (Den Brysomme Mannen), the Fipresci prize-winner at Göteborg, the only film in competition the jury considered was "unafraid to say something not only about people, but also to be against something."

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