Such nicht nach mir

Rather impotent dissection of a family ravaged by the father's drunkenness in early 1980s Oslo. The characters are conspicuously written and remain stuck on the page. And the alcoholism, which is the thematic foundation for it all, is portrayed with a jejune naïvete and a desperate lack of nuance. Still, even the most painful inadequacies can to some degree be alleviated by goodheartedness, of which this picture has plenty. It could have had its strength in the segments where we follow the title character and his four friends on their rummaging in the woods, but the acting is largely amateurish and Knut Andersen's direction is clumsy. He demonstrates that he has a better rapport with the wildlife than he does with the actors. The score, by Norwegian folk musician Sigmund Groven, is the film's best asset.