In China They Eat Dogs (Danish:
I Kina Spiser de Hunde) is an excellent and
very dark action comedy from writer Anders Thomas Jensen and director (and former stuntman) Lasse Spang Olsen.
It follows two brothers — a
mild-mannered bank clerk and a
ruthless restaurant owner — in their brutal misadventures.
Had a prequel called
Old Men In New Cars, mostly about said restaurant owner and his crew.
This movie features examples of:
- Amusing Injuries: Poor Vuk survives a cartoonish amount of punishment that leaves him more and more covered in bandages until he finally bites it.
- Badass: Harald.
- Black Comedy
- Butt Monkey: Vuk.
- Catch Phrase: "We are chefs."
- Chekhov's Gunman: The tourist and the bartender (WARNING: HUGE ENDING SPOILER)who are actually God and Satan, respectively.
- Crosses The Line Too Many Times To Keep Track So We Default To Laughing
- Dissonant Serenity: Arvid, bordering on Dull Surprise. Except that here, it works.
- Easy Road To Hell- Cheat at gambling? HELL!!! Gay? HELL!!! Cuckold your husband once? HELL!!! -Oh, wait a sec, that last one wasn't enough and she should have gone to heaven? Oh well, too bad for her...
- Face Heel Turn: Arvid, under the guidance of his brother.
- Gender Blender Name: The actor playing Harald's name is Kim Bodnia. I dare you to make fun of it to his face.
- God and Satan Are Both Jerks
- Henpecked Boyfriend: Arvid, at first.
- I Just Want to Be Normal: Harald's crew. "We are chefs!"
- It Gets Easier: Once Arvid starts on the path to crime, he finds himself surprised at how fast he gets used to it.
- Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: Arvid, of course.
- Karma Houdini: So exorbitant the bad guy himself starts complaining about it.
- Kick the Dog: The dog's name is Vuk.
- Murder Is the Best Solution
- Politically Incorrect Villain/Politically Incorrect Hero: Harald, much to everybody's consternation and the audience's joy.
- The Ending Changes Everything: Well, not really, but it's still a hell of a curveball. Most spoilers here are related to said ending.
- Those Two Bad Guys: Harald's two assistants, much their chagrin - all they want is to work the restaurant's kitchens normally.
- Tranquil Fury: Harald has a Hair-Trigger Temper and is almost constantly pissed at something or someone, but he almost never goes beyond looking and sounding mildly annoyed. Mind you, he's not the type you should even mildly annoy.
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