Headhunters

HEADHUNTERS is a slick Norwegian phenomenon, a thriller not for the faint of heart. Based on the novel by Jo Nesbø, the biggest Scandinavian crime writer to hit U.S. shores since Stieg Larsson, this movie has been sold to an unprecedented 50 countries. Roger Brown (played by Aksel Hennie of “Max Manus”) is a meek but successful corporate recruitment specialist with a beautiful and expensive wife. Despite their membership in the Norwegian 1%, the couple is still hard up for cash. Roger gets into a little art theft on the side, using the information he culls from job candidates to rob them of their masterpieces. But when he tries to steal a Rubens from a suave Dane who turns out to be a former mercenary (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau of “Game of Thrones”), Roger meets his match. What starts off as a run-of-the-mill heist quickly escalates into a ferocious game of cat and mouse. See the original now; Hollywood has already snapped up the rights to a remake. (In Norwegian and Danish with subtitles) –B.B.