Available on DVD: “A Somewhat Gentle Man”

Jannike Kruse and Stellan Skarsgard

Like its glum antihero, A Somewhat Gentle Man takes a little time to find its feet. Until it does, you may struggle to care about Ulrik (Stellan Skarsgard), a middle-aged murderer newly released from prison. Beefy and slow-moving, quiet and ponytailed, Ulrik seems content to observe freedom rather than embrace it. His former boss (a strutting Bjorn Floberg) expects him to kill the snitch who put him away for 12 years, but Ulrik is done with violence — or so he thinks.

A story about old men bobbing in the wake of a young man’s profession (among Ulrik’s former associates, diabetes, stroke and a colostomy have taken their toll), this Norwegian entry in the deadpan gangster comedy genre finds its mournful tone in Patsy Cline’s tunes and Skarsgard’s doleful puss. Surrounded by truculent women and ridiculous men — all of them sporting lank hair, dingy skin and homeless-shelter fashions — Ulrik accepts a job as a car mechanic and enjoys the steamed cod and sexual favors of his guillotine-faced landlady (Jorunn Kjellsby). In lieu of pillow talk, they watch the Polish version of Dancing With the Stars.

Patiently directed by Hans Petter Moland, Ulrik’s journey back to life slowly draws you in. As he tentatively reaches out to his estranged son (Jan Gunnar Roise) and an emotionally fragile co-worker (Jannike Kruse), his complexion visibly warms. When, in the film’s beatific final moments, Ulrik beams for the first time, it’s what we’ve been waiting for all along.