Strange Teaser Trailer for Kafkaesque Danish Film 'The Penultimate'

"Something is bothering you?" Tambo Film has released an early teaser trailer for a Danish film titled The Penultimate, marking the feature debut of Danish filmmaker Jonas Kærup Hjort. It's premiering at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival this fall - hence the teaser. Dark comedy The Penultimate is a Kafkaesque tale of an insignificant Water Inspector (Joen Højerslev) who arrives at a giant remote building to register the residents' water meters. Before he knows, he finds himself trapped inside the building facing an endless maze of obstacles. In his attempt to escape, perception of reality, the rational, and remnants of his human existence are turned upside down. "Through absurdity and black humor The Penultimate mirrors the story of our time's world of despair. The fear, the hopelessness, the negligence, the feeling of abandonment, the ambiguity, the relentless objectivity – all of these are put into play to confront the audience with themselves. At the same time, it’s an homage to the cartoonish tragi-comedy. From the moments of humor emerges an optimism…," Jonas explains. Well that sounds interesting! And it certainly looks very artsy with this teaser.

Here's the first teaser trailer for Jonas Kærup Hjort's The Penultimate, direct from YouTube:

The Penultimate is a Kafkaesque tale of an insignificant Water Inspector who arrives at a giant remote building in order to register the residents' water meters. Before he knows of it, he finds himself trapped inside the building facing an "Alice in NO-Wonderland"-like maze of obstacles. In his pursuit to escape the twisted reality of the building, the Water Inspector finds himself confronted by the building's many residents who are all trying to make their existence tolerable. Violently and repeatedly assaulted by The Tormented, who has a raving jealousy towards him, fatally misled by The Bride who promises to lead him to The Caretaker who has the key to the front door but only if he agrees to become her husband, etc - Pushed around and tested by the many residents, he gradually loses track of himself and his humanity. Perception of reality, the rational, and the remnants of his human existence is turned upside down leaving him more animal-like than human. The Penultimate is written and directed by Danish filmmaker Jonas Kærup Hjort, making his feature directorial debut after a few short films previously. This is premiering at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival this fall. No other release dates have been set - stay tuned for updates.