Anders Thomas Jensen, The Director of Bold Danish Films
Anders Thomas Jensen is not here to make you comfortable. His movies are full of people who solve their problems in the worst possible ways—criminals who want to open a restaurant, butchers who accidentally sell human meat, and a soldier who turns his grief into a killing spree based on questionable math. And yet, somehow, it all works.
Jensen was born in Frederiksværk in April 1972, and since the late 1990s, he has been responsible for some of the sharpest, darkest, and most oddly heartfelt films to come out of Denmark. He won an Oscar for Best Short Film for Election Night (1998 film Election Night) and never looked back, quickly establishing himself as the go-to guy for Danish movies that mix philosophy, violence, and completely inappropriate laughter.
The Director Who Made Denmark’s Funniest Murderers
Jensen didn’t waste any time making a name for himself. After racking up recognition with short films in 1996 and 1997, he wrote the screenplay for Mifune’s Last Song, proving he could do serious drama before immediately deciding he didn’t want to. Instead, he went full chaos mode with his directorial debut, Flickering Lights (Blinkende Lygter, 2000).
This was a movie that introduced a core theme in his work: men who have no business being criminals trying (and failing) to do something normal. Four gangsters screw up a job and hide out in a countryside house. Instead of laying low, they renovate the place and decide to open a restaurant. It sounds ridiculous because it is, but the characters are so deeply flawed and strangely sympathetic that it works.
He followed this with The Green Butchers (2003), where Mads Mikkelsen and Nikolaj Lie Kaas play two social rejects who, through a series of unfortunate events, end up selling human meat to their customers. That would be enough for most filmmakers, but Jensen wasn’t done. Next came Adam’s Apples (2005), where a neo-Nazi, a priest, and a seemingly indestructible apple tree become the foundation for an existential crisis disguised as a comedy.
Somewhere in between all this, Jensen also wrote and directed a little-known gem called På* Lyset*, a short that added to his growing reputation for making audiences laugh at things they really shouldn’t.
Riders of Justice: A Revenge Movie That Laughs at Revenge Movies
If you’ve seen one revenge thriller, you’ve seen them all. Unless, of course, it’s directed by Anders Thomas Jensen.
In Riders of Justice (2020), Mads Mikkelsen plays Markus, a soldier whose wife dies in a train accident. When a socially inept group of statisticians, led by Otto (Nikolaj Lie Kaas), suggests the accident was actually an assassination, Markus does what action movie protagonists do—he loads up his weapons and starts hunting people down. But Riders of Justice is something far more than just another action film.
While Markus sees the world in simple terms—bad guys killed his wife, bad guys must die—the film keeps pulling the rug out from under him. Is he actually avenging her, or just using violence to avoid dealing with his emotions? Are the statisticians even right about the conspiracy, or are they just seeing patterns where there are none?
Instead of being a straightforward action flick, it’s a film about grief, randomness, and the fact that men will do literally anything to avoid therapy.
A List of People Jensen Loves to Torture (Also Known as His Regular Cast in His Movies)
If there’s one constant in Jensen’s films, it’s that his characters suffer. If there’s a second constant, it’s that Mads Mikkelsen and Nikolaj Lie Kaas are usually the ones suffering the most.
Whether it’s in feature films like Flickering Lights, The Green Butchers, Adam’s Apples, or Riders of Justice, Mikkelsen and Kaas show up time and again to play men who are either emotionally repressed, physically broken, or both. And the worse things get for them, the funnier it somehow becomes.
Jensen also has a long-standing collaboration with Susanne Bier, having co-written films like Open Hearts and Brothers, proving that when he’s not making audiences laugh at murder, he can also make them cry over serious drama. After the Wedding, which he wrote, was nominated for an Oscar in 2007, and won a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film in 2011.
As for his approach to storytelling, Jensen is blunt about it: “I like characters who are completely unequipped to handle their problems.” And if that’s the case, then he’s succeeded—spectacularly.
Ernst, Wolfgang, and Other Bizarre Side Characters Who Steal the Show
Jensen’s films don’t just rely on their leads—his supporting characters are often just as memorable. Take Ernst in Riders of Justice, one of the film’s many side characters who exist to make Markus’s life even more complicated. Then there’s Wolfgang, a name that pops up in his films in the form of eccentric, slightly deranged men who somehow end up in the middle of things.
Jensen knows that the best characters aren’t always the main ones. His side characters are the ones who derail entire plots, create performance gold, or deliver one-liners that make the whole film.
Jensen’s Filmography, Oscar Wins, Nominations, and Other Proof That Denmark Approves of Him
- 1998: Wins Oscar for Best Live Action Short for Election Night
- 2000: Releases Flickering Lights, proving that Danish criminals are the least competent criminals in cinema
- 2003: The Green Butchers is released, making everyone question their local butcher
- 2005: Adam’s Apples turns a dog attack, a neo-Nazi, and an indestructible tree into an existential crisis
- 2007: After the Wedding is nominated for an Oscar as Best Foreign Film
- 2009: The 2009 Oscar for Best Live Action goes to someone else, but Jensen is still making great films
- 2011: In a Better World wins the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film, another nod to Jensen’s influence
- 2015: He directed Men & Chicken (Mænd & Høns), a bizarre dark comedy that features Mads Mikkelsen and Nikolaj Lie Kaas as socially awkward half-brothers who discover disturbing family secrets.
FAQs
Q: Why is he obsessed with dark humor?
A: Because life is terrible, and the only way to cope is to laugh at it.
Q: What’s his best film?
A: That depends. If you want comedy, go for Flickering Lights. If you want disturbing, try The Green Butchers. If you want deep existential dread disguised as a revenge thriller, Riders of Justice.
Q: Does he only work in Denmark?
A: Mostly. Hollywood has tried to remake his films (Brothers, After the Wedding), but they never quite get the tone right. His work thrives on the very specific mix of humor and despair that Danish cinema does best.
Q: What’s next?
A: Probably another film where someone will die, someone will panic, and someone will completely misinterpret their situation in the worst way possible. And it will probably be brilliant.
Final Thoughts: Anders Thomas Jensen Is the Screenwriter and Director Denmark Deserves
Jensen doesn’t do neat, happy endings. His characters don’t grow in the way they’re supposed to. But that’s why his films feel real—even when they’re completely ridiculous. He’s a filmmaker who understands that genre doesn’t matter as long as the story hits hard.
So whether you’re watching a butcher shop gone wrong, a priest refusing to acknowledge reality, or a soldier avenging something he might not even need to avenge, just know: Jensen was born to make you question why you’re laughing at something so messed up.
