Bent Hamer, Pål Sverre Hagen and Face2Face host David Peck talk about their new film The Middle Man, precise poetic comedy, empathy and philosophy, existential angst, satire and rich literary material, and why humour is a way through which we can begin to understand each other.

Trailer

Synopsis:

The Middle Man is a darkly humorous social satire which takes place in a small town that is experiencing an epidemic of accidents and deaths. The town is run by “The Commission” - the Sheriff, the Doctor and the Pastor - who decide to hire a ‘Middle Man’ whose sole responsibility will be to inform the family when an unfortunate incident occurs.

Frank Farrelli is a quiet, thoughtful man who proves perfect for the job. He takes his new role on with gusto and quickly becomes the town’s beacon of bad news. But the pressures of the job and a budding new romance overwhelm Frank. To ease his burden, he calls in a ‘favour’ that ends up in a horrifying yet oddly amusing murder.

About Bent & Pål:

Bent Hamer is a Norwegian director, writer, producer and owner of the film production company BulBul Film. After studying law at The University of Oslo he worked for some years as sailboat skipper abroad before he completed his education in Film Theory and Literature at the University of Stockholm, and in film making at Stockholms Filmskola. Bent’s feature films include the award winning O’Horten Factotum, Kitchen Stories and Eggs which all had their international premiere at Cannes International Film Festival. 1001 Grams, O’Horten, and Kitchen Stories were Norway’s entry for The Academy Award. In 2013 Bent was awarded the Norwegian Amanda Honorary Award for his complete work.

After graduating from the National Academy of the Arts in Oslo in 2003 Pål Sverre Hagen has played major roles in both Scandinavian and International films, for which he has received several awards and accolades. He is perhaps best known for his roles in Troubled Water, Kon-Tiki, In Order of Disappearance, Amundsen and the TV series Exit. He is also an award-winning stage actor. Amongst his 2020 releases are drama comedy Diana’s Wedding, Halo of Stars alongside Lily Collins, Holliday Grainger and Lukas Haas. Hagen achieved world-wide recognition for portraying Thor Heyerdahl in the epic historical feature Kon-Tiki directed by Espen Sandberg and Joachim Rønning, about the 1947 Kon-Tiki expedition. He received an Amanda Award for his role and the film was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award. In 2013 he starred in fantasy adventure Ragnarok. The year after, he starred in the role of the eccentric villain and crime lord “the Count” in the comedy action feature In Order of Disappearance alongside Stellan Skarsgård and Bruno Ganz for which he was awarded Best Actor, at Austin Fantastic Fest.

Image Copyright and Credit: Bent Hamer, BulBul Film, The Film Farm & Pandora Films.

F2F Music and Image Copyright: David Peck and Face2Face. Used with permission.

For more information about David Peck’s podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit his site here.

With thanks to Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

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