Telling the story completely from Hodder’s point of view keeps the tone fairly light, even when it’s dealing with rather significant issues. The characters are all vividly well written and played by the cast–each is a bundle of idiosyncrasies, and we’re not sure if this is how they really are or how Hodder sees them. But it doesn’t matter at all when it’s this enjoyable … and telling. Meanwhile, Hodder’s escalating quest is nicely paralleled against the more down-to-earth issues he’s facing at home and school: serious things that really get under our skin, because we can see how important they are, even if Hodder can’t.
The film is also full of revealing little details–small adventures and characters who are annoying, wacky, charming, surprising. We are completely drawn in to the way Hodder seems so oblivious to the cruelty all around him, returning love and compassion for all the spite he is given; the way Hodder gets a little crush on virtually every woman he meets is both sparky and sweet, as is his banter with the fairy (“You’ve been chosen to save the world!” she says, to which Hodder replies, “Can you come back next week?”). He’s a naive innocent, and yet also bravely willing to go against the grain. And in winning over the people around him, he gets us too.
Review by Jamie Russell (BBC)
Hodder Emanuel Jacobsen (Frederik Christian Johansen) isn’t quite like anybody else. A dreamy nine-year-old with a passion for strange flights of fancy, rum whirls, and asking his stressed-out teacher (Birthe Neumann) impertinent questions about her perfume. He’s a friendless, motherless boy trying to make sense of a strange, strange world. But when his mum returns as an angel and tells him that he must save the planet, wacky but touching Danish family comedy-drama Someone Like Hodder gets even weirder.
