Dark Horse is a 2005 Danish comedic drama film directed by Dagur Kári about a young man, his best friend, and a girl. Kári reworks several thematic and topical elements from his prior film, Nói Albinói. He also crafts a feature which brings together two trends of Scandinavian cinema in the early 2000’s: matter-of- fact examinations of ordinary, working class Scandinavian folks, with intersecting lives and stories, shot in stark black-and-white, and the low-key, whimsical, offbeat humor of northern European directors such as Aki Kaurismaki. Dark Horse opens in Copenhagen, where Daniel, a twenty-something young man, makes a paltry living as a graffiti painter, accepting money from Danish residents to create personalized valentines on the sides of buildings. Unable to collect enough from this trade to pay his rent, he is evicted and must approach his father for lodging, but the father refuses, forcing Daniel to sleep in his car. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival.
