Buddy

I ordered this movie on Netflix, when i was looking through the foreign section. I didn't really know what it was about but i was willing to give it a chance. I ended up digging it and thinking that it is a pretty cool story of friendship and adversity that you go through with real friends. Then i realized that i recognized one of the characters, the one named Geir. i realized that i had seen another one of his movies (from Netflix), about a week earlier called UNO. I would recommned this movie because it is not too heavy but yet you are invested in the story and the characters and want to see how everything ends up. Anyway, i hope this helps.

As the summary says, this film starts out a bit slowly but it is important that you stick with it since the movie is excellent overall. The story is about a working-class guy, Kristoffer and his relationships. While Kristoffer is wrapped up in relationships with two women (which he balances VERY poorly), his interaction with his two room mates (Geir and Stig Inge) were the most interesting aspect of the film to me.

It seems that the little video clips Kristoffer has been making with his pocket video camera have accidentally fallen into the hands of a Norwegian TV producer. Some of them are akin to stunts from the American show, "Jackass", while others are just day to day activities the three men are involved in as they are room mates. Oddly, when they are shown on TV, the three become instant small-time celebrities and instead of life getting better for the guys, things get much worse and quite strained.

While the plot is a bit easy to predict in some places (particularly regarding Kristoffer's girlfriends), the predictability isn't a serious detriment because it's such a nice and quirky sort of film--the sort you'll only see in foreign and independent films. Plus, there are enough surprises and good acting that the overall effort is very pleasant to watch and well worth a look. While not a perfect film, this does demonstrate that good stuff is coming out of Norway and I loved the relationship that blossoms between Kristoffer and Stig Inge.

An absolutely awesome movie, Buddy takes the audience into the lives of three guys in a flat who end up on television with convoluted consequences. Their lives will never be the same, and only the discovery of true loyalty and redemptive friendship can make the situation and experiences into something positive. The transformation is quite moving and the characters seem very real, everyday people. Equally interesting, the film crosses documentary with cinema story to interface and comment on "reality TV." Kudos.

In spite of the seeming capitulation to Hollywood-style romance and happy endings - very uncharacteristic of Norwegian films - this is an outstanding story about status, using people, allegiance to success and stardom vs. allegiance to caring for human beings, especially friends. "Buddy" goes through somewhat annoying yo-yo relationships that need more definition and less reliance on fickle happenstance. The choices are not black and white, and the characters struggle in them. The topical relevance (to 'reality' TV) is especially poignant. In spite of the over-emphasis on finding romance and happiness in loyalty and responsibility, I give it 9/10. One of the most provocative, "real" yet uplifting European films of the year. Worth watching multiple times.

This is one of the best romantic comedies I've seen in a long time. Not only does it bring some originality to the genre, the characters are explored in some depth and the acting is up to anyone's standards.

Our protagonist loses his girlfriend, has a brief fling with a roommate and then....well, that's where the originality starts. The cast of characters is an offbeat crew of sign painters, slackers, neurotic web designers and environmental activists, all of them looking to make the world a better place in the midst of their love affairs and financial woes.

This is a great date movie; it raises some issues that are worth discussing in the car on the way home; you may even get away with letting your hand stray off the gearshift to your date's thigh.

I've seen other Norwegian movies and enjoyed them quite a bit, the most notable being Svidd Neger. There is a vein of sly humor running through these movies that gives them the little extra they needed to stand out in a world of generic Hollywood romances.

Buddy (2003)

A quirky low budget film with a strain of realism holding its absurdity together. There are some implausible twists of plot, and a general feeling that it could have been both more poignant and more tightly edited. But it is most of all very sweet, and because of that it's touching and a nice film, something to watch with expectations in check.

The key here is really the straight forward storytelling style, the ordinary camera-work, the feeling that contemporary Norway looks and feels a bit like this. There is a sadness to a lot of it that seems forced and yet is moving. The romantic encounters are believable and just wrong and awkward enough to remind us of what it was like to be 20-something and completely tossed around in relationships.

In fact, the best of this movie--two or three of the leading actors, for starters--is so good and natural you only wish it had the rest of its act in order. But then, if you make it to the end, you'll either smile or cry because you'll be a bit attached to the actors by then. Fun.