Denmark, 1961. Bjørn, a middle-class boy in his early teens, wants to be accepted by Steen, a bullying peer of his with wealthy but freezingly cold parents. Bjørn's other good friend is Mulle, a cheerful and more childish working-class boy. All three seem friends at first, but gradually Steen starts pushing Mulle away while pulling the impressionable Bjørn with him towards more and more violence.
Acting
Teen actors feel dangerously authentic, not performed.
Direction
August's restraint makes violence hit harder.
Director
Bille August
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Zappa helped launch Denmark's 'Golden Age' of youth realism, influencing Dogme 95's raw aesthetic decades later.
The title refers to an American soda brand the boys fetishize—foreign cool as status symbol in class-obsessed Denmark.
DK
