The Bothersome Man (2006) Reviews

A 40-year-old man arrives in a mysteriously idyllic city with no memory of having traveled there, only to realize that there is something decidedly sinister about his emotionally sterile new home in director Jens Lien's surreal, genre-jumping mystery. Shortly after arriving in the curiously colorless city, Andreas (Trond Fausa Aurvag) is presented with a new apartment and told to report to the office where his amiable new boss, Håvard (Johannes Joner), will provide him with all the details of his new accounting job. Friendship seems to come fast and flavorless in this new town, and no one ever seems to get too upset or too happy. It isn't long before Andreas marries an attractive interior designer named Anne-Britt (Petronella Barker), and as the pair settle into a comfortable routine of emotionally vacant dinner parties, never-ending home improvement, and mechanical sex, the newly arrived citizen gradually begins to question why everyone seems so superficial, the food has no taste, and excessive alcohol intake fails to induce inebriation. As the ubiquitous "Caretakers" who preside over the city take note that their latest arrival just doesn't seem to fit in, Andreas attempts a daring but failed escape. When Andreas meets the like-minded Hugo, who reveals that beautiful music streams out of a crack in the wall of his cellar, the pair quickly concoct a foolproof escape plan that is sure to succeed. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi