In Order of Disappearance (Kraftidioten) (2014)
Starring: Stellan Skarsgård, Pål Sverre Hagen, Bruno Ganz, Peter Andersson, Birgitte Hjort Sørensen
Directed by: Hans Petter Moland
Rating: 
Love Fargo? Love Reservoir Dogs? Fancy the black comedy and memorable characters of one mixed with the razor sharp script and all-out violence of the other? Congratulations! You've just found your new favourite film.
The ever-reliable Stellan Skarsgård plays Nils Dickman, a snowplough driver so dedicated to his job to keep the country roads clear that he's just seen nominated Citizen of the Year in the remote Norwegian town he inhabits. But when his son turns up dead, ostensibly from a drug overdose, he smells a rat, and sets out to hunt down the criminals he discovers are responsible, tackling his dangerous task in the same way he tackles snowdrifts: head on, without flinching.
So far so typical 'worm that turned' revenger's tragedy, as Nils slugs his way up the gangland food chain, pausing only to catch his breath (he is quite old), plough some roads and saw the barrel off his shotgun. Typical, that is, until we meet the shark, aka the Count (Pål Sverre Hagen), surely the most compelling on-screen gangster since Joe Pesci's Tommy. A tall gangly bundle of neuroses, he's a spoilt vegan mobster prince with a very short fuse and more than a hint of Edward Norton's character in Fight Club about him. Yes, he's a darkly comic character, but he's really not a funny guy.
From Serbian crooks to Nils' brother, an ex-con known as Wingman ('from Top Gun, you know') to the local police to the Count's sensitive son Rune, everyone is soon drawn into a deadly battle that can only end one way: with a big ol' bloody, snowbound shootout. (That's really not a spoiler by the way.) But it isn't so much the plot arc that makes this film so marvellous (though it had me on the edge of my seat at times) as the wonderful, unexpectedly delightful traits each character of our motley cast displays. Like Tarantino, director Hans Petter Moland gives everyone a moment to shine, resulting in some beautiful comic conversations between gangland foot soldiers that play out like a more serious take on the Austin Powers movies' disposable henchman gag.
There are also some brilliant visual moments, including a doozy with a coffin which I won't ruin for you. Yet that one moment, combining both black humour and genuine pathos, typifies this wry, bleak, yet also touching movie that both laughs at and empathises with the bathetic ridiculousness of human existence. It may be up to its ears in snow, but In Order of Disappearance is anything but cold: a macabre yet moving thriller that's waiting for you to love it.