The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

After enjoying Noi Albino I was excited to see this movie when it popped up at my local art-house cinema.I'm rather bemused by all the positive comments on it as it's really dreadful, a totally nose-dive for the director. Whereas Noi Albino is an impressive slight and tender vision of outsider culture, Dark Horse is a bad scripted and jarring attempt to render the same kind of characters.Primarily the major problems are that the first half is supposed to be funny and isn't, while the second half is supposed to be profound and isn't. The blur between naturalism and style makes it very difficult to engage with the movie. The style on show is accompanied by the prerequsisite "glitzy" style music of mobile phone adverts, shorthand in our culture for ditzy art school cool. The jokes in the first half are strictly of the "here's a man trying to clean a wall, oh look! the water jet spray is strong so he's stumbled backwards variety". There is a barely a genuine laugh in it.To make things worse, the director's vision of life is hopeless limited. The main character ends up giving up messing around with his life in order to have a baby and even ends up wearing a f**king cardigan into the bargain. Talk about black and white. Meanwhile another character wanders around doing absolutely nothing for the entire movie in what appears to be some kind of bourgeous satire. I turned to my girlfriend over an hour and a quarter and asked "who is that guy again?" Not a good sign with a major character.This film is bad on every level. Badly shot, badly scripted, good actors wasted with flimsy characters. Silly worldview. Not funny.It's little wonder that this film disappeared completely for two years before appearing on British cinema screens. It might have been better for the director if it had disappeared altogether. He's got a big whole to climb out of now and a lot to prove in order to confirm that Noi Albino wasn't just a happy mistake...

Although I appreciated the other comments submitted to this point, I saw this movie at the Cleveland International Film Festival and was terribly perplexed by what it meant to convey.Initially it's a comedy, and a wonderful one at that. Then the characters get hit hard by life's events. Then they change. Unusual events occur, but we don't know why.It's not until the end that we're left with the magical part of the story the movie is telling. As the main character, Daniel undergoes a slow but significant metamorphosis from a bum (but a lucky one) to a character who cares about others and has become responsible.Although at first a minor character, the judge is a sort of doppelganger for Daniel. We first see him in the sleep clinic, then in the court where he pronounces Daniel's sentence. The near-collision with Daniel seems to trigger "the switch", where the judge then steals a gift for his child. By the time we see him staying at the airport instead of going to a meeting we're not even remotely surprised that he runs into Daniel. By the time his wife is confronted with the evidence of his theft the translation to bum is complete.Now to see the movie paying attention to how and when the magic takes effect: is it the near-accident or when the elephants parade by? What about the flash of color? Is there something else?A good watch to begin with and a better watch the second time around!

for those who don't really fit in..there is dagur kari! he turns a simple yet beautiful story into something almost magical. after noi albinoi, the story of a smart but socially dysfunctional teen, dagur presents daniel's story, a dyslexic graffiti artist (let's call it that) who seems to be as irresponsible as his girlfriend franc..and his referee wannabe friend, grandpa..oh..and a strange judge that disappears a story of coming of age? not quite..a story about people that don't fit in this society but seem to be attracted to each others..the final image of the movie shows you not only the new family (daniel's) but also the fiats 500 that seem to have found each others..a movie filmed in black and white with only one image presented in colors..(as noi albinoi is filmed in colors but has several scenes in black and white)..the moment of an awakening maybe.. there is comedy..grandpa the fat referee that wants to break the ten commands in one single day..franc's mother that is more interested in men than her own daughter and ends up being a grandma in more than one way..there is drama..a judge that leaves his wife and daughter after a night of reflection in a hotel.great lines.."Spare me that love-bullshit. Love is useless before the age of 90" that don't just amuse one but also make you ponder about life (bla, bla in a good way). this is one of the best movies i've seen this year. i can't wait to see dagur kari's next movie.

This is a welcome renewal of the Danish cinema! Kári is telling a traditional story of finding yourself in life, but in an untraditional way. First of all, it's in beautiful black & white, which really suits it. Second, he's not afraid of throwing the viewer off course by the characters' unexpected reactions to everyday events, their ignorance, naivety and way of tackling what life gives them.It's funny, has fresh new talent (Tilly Scott Pedersen) and some oldies that does their job really well. At certain points in the movie the pace slows down and I felt the director didn't really know where to take the movie, and ends up with some unfinished stories - but then again it's maybe just one of those "figure it out yourself" stories. I really liked 'Voksne mennesker' and look forward to see more from Dagur Kári!