Oslo, August 31st (***)

This day-in-the-life film about a recovering heroin addict is indeed sobering. Anders (Anders Danielsen Lie), who is 34, has been clean for ten months, which allows him clearly to see the world before him, but not his place in it. Intelligent and well-read, he believes himself better than the junkies in his program, who would, he supposes, be satisfied with menial jobs and a simple life. The story (based on a 1931 novella by Pierre Drieu La Rochelle) follows him on his first whole day on leave from an in-patient clinic. There are no flashbacks, but director Joachim Trier naturally works some of his history into the events of the day, which include seeing old friends, and a job interview.

Two things stand out. One is the way Trier suggests the emptiness Anders is feeling, beginning the movie with a quiet (music-free) interlude where Anders is alone. Later, he sits in a café; we here snippets of conversations that sound significant to the participants, yet feel nothing because we don’t know these people. The other thing, for me at least, is how Trier makes us wonder whether life is predestined or contingent. Perhaps a different sort of childhood would have led Anders to avoid the last several years. Or not. Perhaps Anders is seeking rescue, and the results of his attempted connections — with his friend, with the job interviewer, with his sister, with the girlfriend who gave up on him — will make a difference, or perhaps his own nature and flaws are all that matters. The ending does not answer that and is therefore not immediately satisfying. But the question is skillfully asked.

IMDb link

viewed 8/9/12 7:25 at Ritz Bourse and reviewed 8/13/12

Turn Me On, Dammit (***1/4)

Movies about horny teen boys are legion in Hollywood, but the subject of teen female sexuality (and, to an extent, female sexuality in general) seems the province of Europeans. Provincial Alma (Helene Bergsholm), nearly 16, narrates this Norwegian comedy. Here’s mountains, here's meadows, she says; here’s her dull town that could be a small town anywhere with mountains and meadows. Alma lives with her mother, fantasizes about a boy, and sometimes calls a phone sex line to aid her fantasies.

If there is any common theme among tales of sexual awakening, it’s humiliation; in this case, a sexual matter makes Alma the undeserved object of ridicule among her classmates. Frank but not crude, this adaptation of a novel succeeds with deadpan wit and the palpable awkwardness and longing of many an adolescent.

IMDb link

viewed 10/30/11 7:50 pm at Ritz 5 [Philadelphia Film Festival screening] and reviewed 10/31/11

Tuba Atlantic [short] (***1/4)

This absurdist, Norwegian mini-fable about a seaside-dwelling eccentric given six days to live is not for every taste, particularly the tastes of those who mind seeing birds harmed. Naturally, the codger decides to spend his last days ridding his vicinity of the seagulls whose constant presence ruins his tranquility. However, the unexpected arrival of a teenage girl, while not deterring the former project, inspires him to complete another one that began long ago.

IMDb link

viewed 2/17/12 9:35 at Ritz Bourse [Oscar-nominated live-action shorts program] and reviewed 2/18/12

Happy, Happy (***1/4)

Couples living next door face the hard truths of their relationships in rural Norway. One pair, the more sophisticated of the two, have just relocated, but it’s Kaya (Agnes Kittelsen), the wife in the other couple, who unwittingly instigates things with a social invitation. Isn’t she gorgeous, Kaya says to her husband. But does this reflect security or merely doubt about her own sexual attractiveness? Slightly quirky (a men’s vocal quartet introduces each segment of the story), slightly comedic, and slightly unsettling (Kaya’s young son plays master and slave with the other couple’s boy, who was adopted from Africa), the drama never gets too heavy, but satisfyingly shuffles the deck on its characters’ lives.

A Somewhat Gentle Man (**3/4)

The story of an ex-con is usually the one about whether he’s going to go straight or not, but there’s a lot of ways to tell it. This Norwegian one tells it as a lightly humorous, low-key drama, with the versatile Stellan Skarsgård as the title character. He is a changed—yes, gentler—man after 12 years in prison, and only a few scenes even suggest that the change was a struggle. But his old crime boss tells him they’ve found “him,” and something must be done. Meanwhile, the boss—a big asshole with a mistreated flunky sidekick rather than a Godfather-type crime lord—gets him a place to live, and a job at an auto body place. He tries to reconnect with a son who hasn’t seen him in many years.

There’s a lot to like about the storytelling here, but not a lot of dramatic tension. There’s something too easy about the way the plot all falls into place, like the convenient relationship with the chubby landlady, complete with one of the most comically awkward seduction scenes you’ll have seen. Or the receptionist at the garage says she hates ex-cons so emphatically that it’s obvious she’ll change her mind. The ending is reasonably satisfying. This is Skarsgård’s third collaboration with its director, Hans Peter Moland. The last one was a better English-language film, Aberdeen.

IMDB link

viewed 2/8/11 at Ritz Bourse and reviewed 2/9–14/11