I Kina spiser de hunde (1999)

	Directed by: Lasse Spang Olsen	INTERNATIONAL TITLE In China They Eat Dogs NORWEGIAN TITLE I Kina spiser de hund COUNTRY Denmark GENRE Action/Comedy RUNNING TIME 90 minutes
	Produced by: Steen Herdel
	Written by: Anders Thomas Jensen

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Harald	Kim Bodnia
Arvid	Dejan Čukić
Martin	Nikolaj Lie Kaas
Peter	Thomas Villum Jensen
Franz	Peter Gantzler
Hanne	Trine Dyrholm
Astrid	Line Kruse	-
Vuk	Brian Patterson

Review

Danish cinema experienced a new wave of success in the 1990s, with Kim Bodnia emerging as one of the most prominent figures of this wave. It began with Ole Bornedal's inventive Nattevagten in 1994 and continued with the dark violence fests Pusher (1996) and Bleeder (1998). In Lasse Spang Olsen’s action-filled dramedy I Kina spiser de hunde, we find Bodnia in a fun caricature of these roles as the stand-offish and seemingly invincible hobby gangster Harald. A somewhat subdued Dejan Čukić plays Harald's mildly neurotic brother, who finds himself in a series of bizarre situations that require the help of Harald and his disciples to get him out of. Anders Thomas Jensen's witty screenplay is clearly inspired by Tarantino and works well under Olsen's free-flowing direction and gritty cinematography. Bodnia is rock-solid without bringing too much extravaganza, and along with his companions, he dances his way through increasingly absurd criminal situations. The characters' naive self-confidence is both amusing and well-defined. This is a film that plays more with character types and particular milieus than it does with any weighty social critique. Olsen delivers the narrative well, crafting simple entertainment wrapped in a well-executed and creative style. A fine example of how relatively straightforward techniques can still become solid cinema – with a sense of artistic integrity retained.