The 100 Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared (2013)
Directed by Felix Herngren
After living a long and colorful life, Allan Karlsson finds himself stuck in a nursing home. On his 100th birthday, he leaps out a window and begins an unexpected journey.
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What critics say influenced The 100 Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared
It's larger in scale and more ambitious than most modern American comedies, but similarly broad; because its protagonist is a passive, simple man who has numerous extraordinary adventures and run-ins with famous people, it superficially resembles "Forrest Gump."
Granted, Swedish director Felix Herngren's film does have a strong resemblance to "Forrest Gump" -- and a hero who's just a tiny bit twisted.
Writer (with Hans Ingemansson) and director Felix Herngren has made something like a bonkers Swedish Forrest Gump , what with Allan’s life having taken him through the Spanish Civil War (“For years I did nothing but eat, sleep, and blow things up”), the Manhattan Project (biggest explosions ever!), Cold War Russia (very Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy ), and now what is perhaps is greatest adventure ever, not for the least which reason in that it teams him up with a former circus elephant (among other intriguingly weird characters).
Like “Forrest Gump,” the protagonist runs into, and co-writes history with, a stream of heavies from Joseph Stalin to Ronald Reagan.
In the flashback scenes, director Felix Herngren seems to be going for a Forrest Gump-like historical fable, but in the more manic present-day scenes, Herngren leans on glib violence and weak screenwriting clichés.
“The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared” is the Swedish slapstick version of “ Forrest Gump .”
Echoes of the hilarious ineptitude of Woody Allen 's "Take the Money and Run" and the historic kookiness of "Forrest Gump" turn up throughout "The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared," starring Sweden's beloved comic actor Robert Gustafsson.
The picaresque mode is one that’s well-liked throughout Western culture, and this movie, directed by Felix Herngren and starring popular Swedish comedian Robert Gustaffson, executes it reasonably well, with touches not just reminiscent of “Gump” but of “ The Shawshank Redemption ” and other popular tall tales of our time.
On the contrary, it seems a little bit Zelig and quite a bit Being There as well as quite a bit Forrest Gump, as much of the humour, such as it is, rests on the younger Allan not appreciating what is happening around him.