Thomas Bo Larsen is particularly good at men who struggle to keep themselves under control. In Thomas Vinterberg's ensembles, he makes their suffering visible without asking us to excuse their behaviour.
Fi1m perspective
In The Celebration (1998), Thomas Bo Larsen makes Michael the family member we cannot relax around. He supplies the volatility in Thomas Vinterberg's birthday drama, but waiting for another outburst is not the whole attraction. We were unsettled by Michael because Bo Larsen lets us recognise suffering beneath behaviour we would otherwise dismiss. His attempts to contain himself are worth watching too, and keep a forceful performance from becoming exhausting.
The Vinterberg partnership began with the director's graduation short Last Round (1993), before The Celebration brought Bo Larsen international recognition. An early role as a junkie in Pusher (1996) fits the rough or marginal casting that has recurred through his work. Such parts can narrow an actor's opportunities even when he plays them well. Vinterberg's repeated interest in taking him beyond an initial bad-guy impression makes this the collaboration to follow.
In The Celebration, Ulrich Thomsen's hesitant Christian gives Bo Larsen's energy a useful contrast, while Henning Moritzen makes the father formidable without advertising every response. We believe in the family partly because these men do not appear to have rehearsed how to deal with one another. Vinterberg allows their different ways of holding themselves together to remain visible. The restless camerawork sometimes competes with them, and that is our reservation about an otherwise strongly recommended film. It is hard to justify the distraction when the actors already give us enough to watch.
His later Vinterberg roles include Theo in The Hunt (2012), a drama about accusation and community, and Tommy, one of the four leads in Another Round (2020). The bullies and overgrown adolescents recur in his casting, but he has played conventional family men too. The caveat is that repeated casting can make us think we know a character before he has had time to emerge. Start with The Celebration, provided a fraught family birthday sounds like an evening well spent.
Biography
Thomas Bo Larsen is a Danish actor born on 27 November 1963 in Gladsaxe. He graduated from Odense Theatre School in 1991 and began his film career in the early 1990s.
He is known for recurring roles in films by Thomas Vinterberg, including Michael in The Celebration (1998), Theo in The Hunt (2012) and Tommy in Another Round (2020). Other credits include Pusher (1996), Flickering Lights (2000) and The Wave (2015). He has received Robert Awards for his performances.
