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Released by: Drafthouse Films
Released on: September 25, 2012.
Director: Mikkel Ní¸rgaard
Cast: Frank Hvam, Casper Christensen, Mads Lisby, Dya Josefine Hauch
Year: 2010
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The Movie:
Directed by Mikkel Ní¸rgaard, 2010's Klown is a spinoff of a Danish TV series called Klovn that hasn't ever really been seen here in North America. Don't let that dissuade you, however, as this is pretty much a self contained story and a very funny one at that.
The movie revolves around a man named Frank (played by Frank Hvam) whose girlfriend, Mia (Mia Lyhne), volunteers to babysit her thirteen year old nephew, Bo (Marcuz Jess Peterson) while her brother and his new wife go away on their honeymoon. When Frank finds out that Mia is pregnant, he flips out and Mia starts to wonder if he's 'dad material.' When things go from bad to worse, Frank winds up having to take Bo on a canoe trip he and his best friend Casper (Casper Christensen) have got planned. While this might sound all well and good, I turns out that Casper figures this trip should end with a visit to a posh party that he's learned will be populated with hookers galore!
Obviously neither Frank nor Casper are going to prove to be the best chaperones out there but they'll do what they can to look after Bo, or at least make sure he doesn't wind up dead. Hopefully the kid can keep his mouth shut though, because neither Mia nor Casper's better half, Iben (Iben Hjejle), is going to be particularly stoked to learn about the hooker party plans.
A series of horrible exploits strung together over the course of the movie's ninety-two minute running time, Klown is pretty goddamn funny and what's great about the movie isn't just that it's funny but that it's funny in very unpredictable ways. The film toys with your expectations, you think you know where the joke or set piece is going, and then when you get there, the filmmakers tend to consistently surprise you. This results in a fairly fresh feeling movie in a genre that often tends to lean towards predictability and recycling of ideas - let's face it, a lot of comedies are formulaic at the best of times, downright rip offs at the worst.
The performances are solid across the board. The principal players all do fine with the material even when it gets raunchy. Marcuz Jess Peterson should get special mention just for being so completely convincing as the awkward thirteen year old, he really does a great job here in what is sort of a fish out of water scenario for his character. Hvam and Christensen go about their business as usual, they're seasoned goofballs with a penchant for perversity but all of this seems new to Bo and Peterson handles that side of his performance very well.
It should also be noted that as raunchy as Klown can get, it also has a good story at its core. The characters develop nicely and change as the movie progresses and they're fleshed out enough that they remain interesting as the movie progresses. On top of that, it's interesting to watch the most unlikely of friendships develop out of all of the chaos that ensues once the trip gets underway. This gives the story a bit more depth than it would have had otherwise and it's all the better for it.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Klown arrives on Blu-ray in an AVC encoded 1.85.1 widescreen 1080p high definition transfer that looks pretty spiffy. The movie starts off with some clips from the show framed at 1.33.1 but soon opens up and takes advantage of the widescreen format nicely. Detail is good here but the movie is shot reality TV style in faux documentary format with the use of a lot of handheld cameras and such. It never gets too shaky the way some found footage horror movies do but there are moments that like less than 'a perfect film transfer' than others because of it. This works in the context of the story being told, however. Black levels are nice, colors look good, texture is fine and there aren't any transfer related oddities like heavy noise reduction or edge enhancement of note. All in all, yeah, this looks very good on Blu-ray.
The Danish language DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track is a good one though like most comedies it never really gets into 'demo material' mode. Most of what makes up the movie is dialogue but there are plenty of instances throughout the movie where the surrounds spring to life, be it to spread out the score or play with some effects. Levels are nicely balanced, dialogue is crisp and clear and the forced English subtitles are easy to read and free of any obvious typos. An optional Danish language Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound mix is also included.
The first extra on the disc is a commentary track featuring director Mikkel Ní¸rgaard and actors Frank Hvam and Casper Christensen. Spoken in English, this is a nice mix of humor and information as the group obviously gets along quite well and joke as friends will but so too do they manage to share some stories about the making of the picture. They discuss the TV series, the casting choices and some of the gags that we see in the movie as well as what it was like taking the concept to feature film territory.
Speaking of the TV series, we also get a twenty-five minute episode from the run entitled "It's A Jungle Down There." Written by Lars Von Trier, the story here revolves around Mia and Iben trying to get the most out of a sex seminar for women being held in town. It's pretty funny stuff and a nice companion piece to the feature - in fact, it's good enough that it makes you wish that the entire series might get a domestic release here in North America.
From there, check out the forty-two minute long behind the scenes documentary, Klown From Behind: The Making of Klown. It's made up of cast and crew interviews with a lot of input from Ní¸rgaard. Some interesting behind the scenes footage and clips from the feature film premiere are also included here.
Some shorter 'bits and pieces' round out the supplements including Castello Alleycat (four minutes of extra scenes from the brothel sequence), Crafting "The Willie" (a two minute piece on the fake dick used in the movie), an Alternate Opening Sequence, a collection of Eight Deleted Scenes, a seven minute collection of Outtakes, and a collection of Danish and U.S. Theatrical Trailers and Teaser Trailers for the feature and trailers for a few other Drafthouse Films releases. Menus and chapter stops are also included. The disc also comes with a nice full color booklet containing some stills, credits and related materials and a download code for a digital copy.
The Final Word:
A completely awesome exercise in bad taste that never really gets offensive in a nasty way, Klown is a film entirely without heart. The film is not only insanely funny but also very well directed and excellently acted. Drafthouse Films rolls out the red carpet for the film's domestic Blu-ray debut, offering it up in excellent shape and with a great assortment of supplemental goodies to compliment the feature attraction.
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
