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Oslo, August 31st (2011)

Director: Joachim Trier

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From Time Out London

‘Every junkie’s like the setting sun,’ sang Neil Young, and this deeply affecting, quiet and restrained Norwegian film is a compassionate, cutting portrait of a day in the life of a man whose light is slowly going out. Anders (Anders Danielsen) is a thirtysomething, fresh out of rehab, who arrives in Oslo for a job interview and to catch up with old friends. Over the opening credits, we hear anonymous voices recalling growing up in Oslo, which hint too at the film’s carefully-handled theme of being disconnected from places and people in your past, sometimes tragically so. Several encounters, filmed delicately and intimately by writer-director Joachim Trier (‘Reprise’), investigate this idea further as Anders fluffs the interview, spends time with an old pal who is now a husband and father, and goes to a party at the apartment of one of his successful contemporaries. Trier has adapted a 1930s French novel, which in 1963 Louis Malle filmed as ‘Le Feu Follet’, but this feels totally fresh and modern in its concerns. It’s also devastating.

Author: Dave Calhoun

Time Out London Issue 2150: 3 – 9 November, 2011

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User reviews of this film

Phil Ince said...

Posted on Nov 06 2011 10:41 I had a bit of a crush on Anders Danielsen which skewed my feelings about the film a little. I want to say it's a memorable tragedy but somehow the farcical suicide attempt at the opening of the film meant Anders' character was undermined (particularly since it's the only joke in the film). The dialogues are honest and truthful, though, and the destructive path Anders follows is a heart-sinking one. It's more a story of self-pity than I first understood, though. Still a tragedy but of someone who's put a final value on their own life which it's hard to disagree with. Good film.

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