Comments on a couple films: 'Boss Of It All' & 'Guru'

[winterspel]

Friday night, I went to see Danish film Boss Of It All, a hilarious romp that was, as icajoleu described, a bit like Denmark Does 'The Office.' Directed by noted film maker Lars von Trier, it follows out-of-work actor Kristoffer who is hired by Ravn to "act" as the "Boss of it All" for Ravn's company. Ravn confesses early in the film that he always felt

Comments

[winterspel]

It's interesting that you should say that because one of the people I went to see this with was born and raised in India and she was almost offended that the festival had chosen this film - and she, like me, was disturbed that the film made a hero out of a man sunk into corruption.

My problems with it were partly filmic - in my opinion, the film doesn't do a very good job of articulating clearly how/why he transitions from being a stand-up guy to resorting to these means to get ahead and build his company - yes, there are indications, but they're lost in the shuffle, if you ask me. The last conflict we see is when he's so outraged that he's been offered a blank check for his company that he engages his media friends in a wholly fabricated smear campaign. I was really surprised at that, I guess, and I shared Naniji's outrage when he berates the reporters and staff for "giving the country away."

I guess I feel like the film could have handled it a bit better, and that while I can see why Guru resorted to bribery, the tax evasion and conversion issues muddied my ethical boundaries. The film made me feel like the only way to succeed is to also engage in corruption, which is very sad.

Thanks to the link to your write-up! :)