Mixing violence and humor together is very difficult. The notions seem diametrically opposed to each other: laughter makes you smile, violence makes you cringe. Putting them together often has the potential to be extremely offensive and warped. To be able to do so requires having a perfect sense of how graphic the violence should be, and how to properly make light of very dark situations. Putting together violence, humor, and compelling characters is even tougher. It takes a lot of energy to properly blend humor and brutality—the ability to create fascinating characters take just as much willpower. To be able to have both aspects, and create a film that feels brisk and fun, is a nigh-impossible task. Fortunately, being nigh-impossible means it can still happen, and Jackpot by Magnus Martens takes these elements and blends them together into a delicious blend of joy.
The premise of Jackpot is both fun and fascinating. The police investigate a situation at a strip club—eight people are dead, and one person, named Oscar, has been found under one of the bodies holding a rifle. He’s then questioned by the police inspector, which becomes a way to show the events leading up to the death from Oscar’s point of view. As a character, Oscar is a different breed from most protagonists in action-comedy films, mainly because he does nothing wrong. He runs a rehabilitation center for former criminals, and agrees to place a soccer bet with them. When his ticket ends up winning big, chaos erupts on how to split the money, and violence and death occurs. It’s a fairly standard idea (criminals fighting over dividing cash), but what makes the film so interesting is that it keeps you on guard as to how culpable Oscar really is. The majority of the story is told from his perspective, and as such, he does nothing truly bad, and is merely witness to everything. But every time the story shifts to real time, or someone else’s point of view, a different question emerges: is Oscar lying? His character is written in a manner that finds the careful balance between someone who you can view as both innocent and devious. Such a contradiction doesn’t seem possible, but the film is able to pull it off—each time new evidence is discovered, Oscar is shown in a different light, and doubts are placed in the viewer’s head about his innocence. This balance is found through his natural nonchalant nature—he may protest the vile actions going on around him (or appear to do so in his flashbacks), but there isn’t enough disgust and fear to claim he is wholly a victim. When he starts to go along with the plan, one wonders how involved he actually is.
Another element of complexity concerns the police inspector who interrogates him, and directs Oscar to tell what happened. He’s painted as the opposite as the stereotypical interrogator—instead of being harsh and mean, he’s kind and friendly, to the point where he wants a relaxed atmosphere with Oscar. But for all the jolliness that’s on the surface, beneath is a boiling cauldron of hate and distrust. As his patience gets tested, his true emotions come to the surface, and they’re not pretty. He’s an angry, vicious beast, and an argument can be made that despite all the criminals in the film, he is the worst monster of all. He doesn’t do anything illegal or immoral—he simply does his job—but the film is superb at lifting up the mask that people wear just a tiny bit to see the grotesqueness crawling underneath. As a nice juxtaposition to that is the other main criminal in the film, Oscar’s friend Thor. Thor’s dynamic is the most fascinating out of all the characters. He is Oscar’s friend since childhood, and their bond is said to be very strong, but Thor is plagued with mental instability, He’s constantly stressed, goes off on rages, and has no qualms about killing Oscar if need be. The dichotomy is such that it’s always a question as to what his actions will be while he is on screen, and why no one else tries to help him. The back-and-forth of his emotions indicate someone in need of major help, and while Oscar does support him, he never takes the next step to acknowledge Thor’s issues. As the plot winds through twists and turns, so too does their dynamic, when you find yourself questioning their 
friendship. Are they really close friends? Have they drifted apart? Or is this inability to recognize their fatal flaws a sign that they don’t really have a good idea of how to relate to each other, even after all this time?
For those concerned that the depth of the interactions could backfire and create a movie too smart for its own good, fear not: it’s also funny. Humor is the oil that makes the machinery of violence in the film work. The laughs aren’t huge laughs, but they’re well-timed ones, knowing when to take a breather from the heavy subject manner of the film. A perfect example is when a body is being stuffed in a woodchipper. Aside from being an absurd idea, and generating a laugh in that fashion, the woodchipper also normally produces white Christmas trees, which have now turned red due to the blood now in the machinery. It’s a subtle detail that none of the characters notice, but is evident of the film’s ability to find the dark laughter in the material. It makes you laugh by being absurd. Another shining moment is when the group starts to cut up a body. It’s a grisly task, garnering lots of tenseness and arguing, as well as a confrontation with Oscar’s landlord. Finally the landlord is drawn away, the group stops fighting, starts cutting…and finds out Oscar doesn’t have any garbage bags to store the limbs, rendering the task useless. It’s that kind of self-aware nature of knowing the tropes and finding ways to laugh at them, that is the cherry on top of the Jackpot sundae.
Overall, this is a rare film: one that can simultaneously be complex and irreverent, and do so in a brisk manner. The film flies by, leaving the audience not with questions about the plot, but musings about the characters, what’s guided them, and where they can go from here. It’s a brainy introspective core surrounded by a wonderful shell of humor and absurdism. In other words, see it now.
Rating: A hell of a well-made and fun flick (9/10)
Jackpot is now available on VOD and in limited theaters from Music Box Films
Recent Comments