The Middle Man

by Bent Hammer

The Middle Man

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.

Director

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 (uncompleted Doctoral Program) 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. Bent has served several film festival juries including Tokyo IFF, San Sebastian IFF, Sundance Institute/Sundance IFF and Karlovy Vary IFF.

In 2013 Bent was awarded the Norwegian Amanda Honorary Award for his complete work.

DIRECTOR'S FILMOGRAPHY:

2014 1001 GRAMS (1001 GRAM)
2010
HJEM TIL JUL (HOME FOR CHRISTMAS)
2007
O'HORTEN (O'HORTEN)
2005
FACTOTUM (FACTOTUM)
2003
KITCHEN STORIES (SALMER FRA KJØKKENET)
1998
WATER EASY REACH (EN DAG TIL I SOLEN)
1995
EGGS (EGGS)

 

Cast

Pål Sverre Hagen as Frank the "Middle Man"
Tuva Novotny as Blenda
Paul Gross
as The Sheriff
Don McKellar
as The Doctor
Nicolas Bro
as The Pastor
Nina Andresen-Borud
as Frank's Mother
Rossif Sutherland
as Steve
Trond Fausa Aurvåg
as Bob
Aksel Hennie
as Arthur
Kenneth Welsh
as Martin Miller
Sheila McCarthy
as Mrs. Stout

 

Crew

Writer: Bent Hamer
Director:
Bent Hamer
Producer:
Bent Hamer
Co-Producers:
Simone Urdl, Jamie Manning, Jennifer Weiss (THE FILM FARM)/ Reinhard Brundig , Nina Frese (PANDORA)/ Jacob Jarek (PROFILE PICTURES)
Cinematographer:
John Christian Roselund
Production Designer:
Diana Magnus
Costume Designer:
Amanda Lee Street
Editor:
Anders Refn
Composer:
Jonathan Goldsmith
Sound Designer and Mixer:
Steve Munro

 

Technical Data

Original title: The Middle Man
Tagline: Death Is a Tough Way to Make a Living
International title: The Middle Man
Duration: 95 min
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1
Format: 4K
Sound: 5.1
Year: 2021
Original language: English
Countries of production: Norway, Canada, Germany, Denmark
Production Companies: BulBul Film
Co-production Companies: PANDORA Film GmbH & Co. Filmproduktions- und Vertriebs KG, The Film Farm, Profile Pictures ApS
With the support of: Eurimages, NFI, NFTF, NOHFC, Telefilm, Ontario Creates, Candada Tax Credit, DFFF,
Film- und Medienstiftung NRW, Danish Film Institue, Crave, ZDF/ ARTE

 

Go back