In The Last Viking, this year’s dark comedy from Anders Thomas Jensen (Riders of Justice), Anker (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) is a bank robber who has served his time and now wants to spend his looted treasure. Just before his capture Anker had handed his loot to his severely mentally ill brother Manfred (Mads Mikkelsen). to hide. Unfortunately, while Anker has been in prison, Manfred has decompensated, now resides in a psychiatric hospital and may not even remember where he stashed it.
Manfred lives in his own alternative reality, sometimes believing himself to be a Viking and sometimes John Lennon. After getting briefed on Manfred’s disassociative disorder from the oddball psychiatrist Lothar (Lar Brygmann), Anker breaks Manfred out of the hospital and heads off to their childhood home, now occupied by the new owners, who operate a vacation rental.
The house is familiar, but the setting is weird because the host couple (Sofie Grabol,and Soren Malling), bitter from career disappointments, each have their own delusions. Things get weirder when Lothar shows up with two other mental patients who also think they are Beatles. A particularly vicious former crime partner of Anker’s wants to steal the loot, so there’s an element of crime thriller amongst all the silliness.
Anders Thomas Jensen’s movies, as funny as they are, are populated by characters whose personalities have been shaped by traumas. That’s the case here, and Anker and Manfred share a fearsome secret from their childhood.
Mikkelsen and Lie Kaas are excellent in their roles. Lars Brygmann and Sofie Grabol stand out among the supporting cast.
A dark comedy about mental illness? You bet, and The Last Viking works because everybody has their delusions, even if they’re not diagnosed. The Last Viking is streaming on Amazon, AppleTV and YouTube. Tomorrow, I’ll write about five more Jensen dark comedies, including his masterpiece.