Søren Weiss

Danish noir crime drama with a poetic nerve. Two boys, Kristinus and Jakob (Rode and Neergaard) experienced a loveless and abusive childhood. Now as grown-ups, they are acting outside the law.

The story opens just before Christmas, when solitary, apathetic bank clerk Flemming Borck uncovers a plot to rob his bank. After doing a little rookie recon, Borck identifies the would-be bank robber as a faux shopping-mall Santa Claus, and counter-plots to steal the money himself and let Santa take the blame. This works out about as badly as you might imagine, and our bumbling protagonist spirals further and further away from the carefree, laconic lifestyle he had hoped to ensure for himself.

This film could easily be a true story taken from contemporary Denmark. It is a typical Tuesday morning: stormy weather, slush, and bitter cold. Two young women are cycling to work. They make an unpleasant discovery: they find a dead man on a bench in the park.

Peter Vipperup is a tailor in a small provincial town. He has to work hard to make ends meet for himself and his family. One fine day, Vipperup's brother, Andres, returns home from America. He is a completely different type than the little Lapp tailor, and he has had good luck on the other side of the Atlantic. A few cunning minds in town have seen through Andres' wealth and devise a plan to secure a share of the wealth by appointing the tailor as director of a newly started bank - and then exploiting his naivety.

A lost hat brings a powerful director and an aspiring actress together.