Top 150 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2019: #137. Suicide Tourist – Jonas Alexander Arnby

Suicide Tourist

Danish director Jonas Alexander Arnby assembles an impressive cast and crew for his sophomore feature Suicide Tourist. The Scandinvaian-German-French co-pro is produced by Eva Jacobsen, Mikkel Jersin and Katrin Pors for Denmark’s Snowglobe, while Germany’s DCM, Norway’s Mer Film, France’s Charades, and Sweden’s Film i Vast and Garagefilm International have also been involved in production. Arnby returns to work with his When Animals Dream DP Niels Thastum as well as composer Mikkel Hess. Greece’s Yorgos Mavropsaridis (of The Lobster, 2012) serves as editor. A stellar cast consists of Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Tuva Novotny, Sonja Richter, Jan Bijvoet, Kaya Wilkins, Robert Aramayo, Sobørg Højfeldt, Lorraine Hilton and Johanna Wokalek. Arnby’s 2014 debut When Animals Dream premiered in Critics’ Week at the Cannes Film Festival.

Gist: Based on the novel by Rasmus Birch, which sounds like something we’d expect from Yorgos Lanthimos, an insurance claims adjustor (Coster-Waldau) is investigating the disappearance of a married man named Arthur, who he tracks to a secretive luxury hotel where guests are assisted with creating their fantasy suicides. The man finds himself trapped in the hotel, trapped in his own existential dilemma.

Release Date/Prediction: Arnby was in the midst of filming the feature in November 2018, due to complete the project by spring. Cannes 2019 seems a likely return for Arnby, potentially in Un Certain Regard or Directors’ Fortnight.