The most popular show on Netflix in Denmark right now pays homage to a kind of children’s game.
But no, it’s not the Korean show ‘Squid Game’ that poses challenges based on playground activities where the losers are horribly killed.
The last weekend has knocked ‘squid games’ out of its perch and been the Danish series ‘Kastanjemanden’ (‘The Chestnut Man’), a serial murder drama in six parts based on the debut novel by Søren Sveistrup, the creator of ‘The Crime’ (‘The Killing’ ‘).
With solid reviews popping up all over the globe, it’s still too early for the series to have a Metacritic score, but it’s clear that ‘The Chestnut Man’ is proving to be popular with both fans and critics – especially Copenhageners, as it most of the series were shot in the capital while carrying out their daily business.
Who knows then?
With Danica Curcic and Mikkel Boe Følsgaard in the lead role, the first episode raises questions from the very beginning, including who on earth is the girl in the opening sequence, what forest is the opening credit sequence shot in, in which suburb of Greater Copenhagen has this woman been murdered, and why do Danish children creepy men out of chestnuts and sing so creepy songs about them?
The biggest mystery, however, concerns the name of the show, as several foreign sites seem to suggest (no doubt about coziness) that viewers should roast a few chestnuts while watching it, unaware that their mistranslation can be problematic.
The nuts shown are not chestnut, but horse chestnut (horse chestnuts), so reviewers inadvertently advise viewers to poison themselves.
Whodunnit, you might ask. Well, the true killer is the show itself.
Denmark takes silver in the world championship for chefs
A team from Denmark has won silver in this year’s Bocuse D’Or – the world championship for chefs. Ronni Vexøe Mortensen and assistant Sebastian Holberg were only better by France, with Norway in third place – the same team that beat Denmark to Bocuse d’Or Europe earlier this year. It is believed that Mortensen and Holberg, who have worked together for three years, practiced their menu over 100 times. They were supervised by Geranium chef Rasmus Kofoed, himself a winner in 2011 after two previous visits to the podium. Denmark defended champions after Kenneth Toft-Hansen’s triumph in 2019.
Belarusian author awarded the Sonning Prize in 2021
Belarusian author Svetlana Alexievitch has been awarded the Sonning Prize in 2021, a Danish two-year prize that recognizes significant contributions to culture. It was first presented in 1950 to Winston Churchill. The panel said they primarily chose Alexievitch out of respect for ‘The Red Man History’, a series of five books published between 1985 and 2013, which is rich in testimonies from citizens of the former Soviet Union. ‘The War Doesn’t Have a Female Face’ (1985), ‘The Last Witnesses’, 1985), ‘The Zinc Boys’ (1989), ‘Prayer for Chernobyl’ (1997) and ‘Secondhand Time’ (2013) have been translated into 52 languages, and in 2015 their author received the Nobel Prize in Literature. Alexievitch received 1 million kroner at a ceremony at the University of Copenhagen on Thursday 23 September Since 1950, many famous people have won the award, including Laurence Olivier (1966), Ingmar Bergman (1989), Günter Grass (1996) and Lars von Trier (2018).
Queen meets queen at Bakken review show
Quite a charming video (see the end of the story and below for two different clips) makes rounds in Denmark of 80-year-old actor Ulf Pilgaard’s last performance ever as Queen Margrethe on Cirkusrevyen in Bakken – a role he has played since 1986. Pilgaard traditionally brings the show to end with the line “God preserve Denmark” – the same line the monarch uses at the end of his New Year’s speech – and it was at this time that Queen Margrethe appeared to surprise everyone by giving the actor an ashtray in silver.
Goes to a song: Sales of recordings from Lennon and Ono exceed expectations
The original audio cassette recording of an interview from 1970 with John Lennon and Yoko Ono in Jutland, where the famous couple had tracked Ono’s ex-husband and her daughter, was sold last week for 370,000 kroner by Bruun Rasmussen Auctioneers. The party had been estimated to bring in 200,000 to 300,000 kroner, but there was an unprecedented interest worldwide, according to Ralph Lexner from Bruun Rasmussen, and a foreign buyer emerged triumphant. As well as the tape included original photos taken by the interviewers, four local schoolboys, along with a copy of the school magazine the interview was published in. The 33-minute audio showed Lennon singing the songs ‘Give Peace a Chance’ and the unreleased ‘Radio Peace’.
Source: The Nordic Page