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Brief summary of the first 20 minutes: Thomas, a young man gets released from prison. He had something to do with the disappearance of a young boy. He finds a job as an organ player in the church of the town where he used to live.

Pic deals with universal themes such as guilt, love, expression through music, faith, responsibility, loss of loved ones and the value of family. Although the setting and some references are Scandinavian, this is a story that could have taken place anywhere in the world. I think it can touch sensitive people across many cultures.

It may not be the most original, hip movie that I saw in the last year. I have seen elements of the story before, and the pace is calm.

However, the structure and high quality performances keep things interesting until the finale. Much of the quality of the lead actors comes from body language and non-verbal performances. Also the casting of the smaller adult parts and child actors is simply top.

Some scenes in the movie caused a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes. I was moved. The general tone of the movie is serious and sensitive, but director Erik Poppe also manages to keep the mood light and hopeful.

I'm a sucker for good movie scores. The music is breathtakingly wonderful. I have never been an avid fan of the organ, but this movie has the power to make people fall in love with this instrument. Much of what Thomas is going through is expressed through the music. It also helps the audience to get involved into this perhaps not so sympathetic, mysterious character. Also the non-organ part of the score by Johan Söderqvist is touching and effective. I had at times brief associations with the music of Philip Glass (but only briefly) and Thomas Newman.

So it is to my big surprise, that the soundtrack of this movie - now one year after the theater release in Norway - is still not available on CD. I found Scandinavian bluray and DVD-releases, but no OST. I hope that somebody can fix this, because this is one of those soundtracks that I would simply would want to play again and again.

In a nutshell, this film had some fantastic music, especially on the organ. It features great performance by Pål Sverre Valheim Hagen as Jan Thomas, a man imprisoned for a murder of a boy he says he didn't commit; Ellen Dorrit Petersen as Anna, the pastor he gets involved with; and Trine Dyrholm as Agnes, the mother of the murdered boy.

The film also features some incredible cinematography, and brilliant direction by Erik Poppe.

It is about redemption and forgiveness; about starting over after a heinous crime has been committed. The fact that Jan Thomas continues to have flashbacks makes us believe that he is not as innocent as he claims.

A beautiful film about lives gone wrong, and lives damaged by evil.

I don't comment on movies that often,but this film really moved me. I didn't think Erik Poppe would top his last film Hawaii Oslo,but this film really did something with me emotionally.

It is beautifully shot,with some similarity to Hawaii Oslo, with a warm summer and shots of the city. The music used goes hand in hand with the whole feeling of the film and made me enjoy the film just watching and listening. While watching I got so pulled into the story of the film that it was emotionally painful to watch at times.I actually caught myself screaming at the screen in desperation. The acting must be of the best I've seen in a Norwegian film. Especially the two leading roles impressed me, but Trond Espen Seim is also worth mentioning. I really hope this film gets a wide audience because it really deserve it. I hope this will be Norway's contribution to the Oscars for best foreign film.

Jan Thomas Hansen (Pål Sverre Hagen) is in prison for killing a child during his teens. He is released on parole and finds work as a church organist. He befriends the priest Anna and her young son. His victim's mother Agnes (Trine Dyrholm) accidentally spots him in the church as his troubled past resurfaces to cause chaos.

It has a slow plodding pace for most of the movie. The lead is playing the quiet character very close to the vest. It doesn't allow much tension into the first half of the movie. When Agnes is put into the movie, it is a bit of ticking clock for the audience as we wait for the inevitable confrontation. The first half already lays out what is going to happen in much of the second half. Maybe it went one step too far by telling us that the boy goes missing. Nevertheless there is a realism in the performances by both leads. The movie gets much more fascinating with the two characters on the same screen.

"deUsynlige" (English title "Troubled water") is Norwegian director Erik Poppe's third film in his Oslo-trilogy where the first is "Schpaaa" from 1998 and the second is the fabulous "Hawaii, Oslo" from 2004.

All films are of a great caliber, and Poppe is proving to be a director who knows his ways. You are marked after watching one of his films, and this is so far the best, actually more or less flawless.

Of course, there are things which could have been done differently, but every scene in his films are carefully woven into the story. Here's no coincidences, though his films are full of them. Life's coincidences. Well, is it coincidental, or is it faith? Is it bound to happen? This seems to be something Poppe is also very concerned with, together with his equally fabulous manuscript writer Harald Rosenløw-Eeg.

"deUsynlige" (something like "The invisibles" directly translated into English) obviously uses "deus" in the meaning of God, and this is also a film with religious themes and setting, this being about guilt, truth and forgiveness. But more reconciliation than forgiveness. Some things can't be forgiven...

Is it possible for a couple to forgive a kidnapper being the reason for their sons death or disappearance. The boys never found. How evil is the main character? This gives the film suspense in more than one way.

You want this film to be interesting, and it is. You want it to be exciting? Well, it is! You want a film to be heartfelt. It is! As well as highly believable, scary, thought provoking, romantic, disturbing... Well, it's all of that, just like "Hawaii, Oslo".

It is impossible not to like this film. What I find most interesting is Poppes experimenting through the film. The story is told both ways, which is very unusual on the big screen, and still this works great. It's actually adding to the excitement.

The actors do their job flawlessly, with Pål Sverre Valheim Hagen making a fabulous character. The rest is just as good, even the smallest kids. Many actors were cast for this, and Poppe himself says that the amount of great actors in Norway is the reason that there comes out so any great film from Norway now. - It makes it possible to make even more difficult movies in the future, Erik Poppe has said.

Well, being impressed with Poppe once more, I promise you a great two hours sitting down to watch this. This is why I love watching movies. What a treat!

While watching the movie, I felt that this is an exceptional movie and wondered why this movie does not figure along with the greats. Reminded me of 'Blue' for some reason.

Acting is superb and wonderfully subdued acting from the accused protagonist to contrast with the expressive hysterical acting from the mother.

The presentation is so very realistic and the plot is so original - never seen a story like this before.Technique of story telling took an interesting turn when the movie started presenting the same timeline in the life of the parents intersecting naturally and unobtrusively with the thread of the accused's life.

Certain pieces of organ music in the movie are very striking.

There are a few intimate scenes that have been very aesthetically presented. There is no background music whatsoever in the movie and it feels excellently real.

Towards the end of the movie, certain aspects did not fit perfectly. The maker wanted to make the central thread take one decisive knot but unfortunately the build up was slightly unnatural.So many unusual things happen in the movie but a very high percentage of these are explainable by the emotional plight of the protagonists.

Otherwise, it is a perfect screenplay.There is mastery in all the little little details.Very aesthetic.

When "troubled teens" are embroiled in gangs (ONCE UPON A TIME IN America) or drugs (TRAINSPOTTING, REQUIEM FOR A DREAM), it is a life decision, a commitment to those lifestyles that drives their drama.

In the Norwegian film, TROUBLED WATER, a teen commits one thoughtless act that has life-shaking consequences long after he tries to atone for it. He was not driven to it by desire for money, addiction, or broken family, just one lapse in judgment.

Pål Sverre Valheim Hagen won a Norwegian film award for this breakout role as Jan Thomas, who, as a teen, kidnaps a 5-year-old boy. We catch up with Jan in his early 20s, as he completes his sentence in a juvenile jail. We learn he is a principled, sensible guy and a talented organist. He still has flashbacks of that fateful day (that reveal ever more harrowing details) but he wants to put it behind him as he starts a job as a church organist.

Jan seems to find his feet, the church job including an apartment, a bike, welcoming staff (like Terje Strømdahl, who asserts "if he can't get a second chance here, then where?") - and a female priest hot enough to be in ABBA (Ellen Dorrie Petersen as Anna, in her second film role). And Jan gets to rock out with his stops out.

Until the mother of the kidnapped boy recognizes him.

Agnes (veteran Norwegian actress Trine Dyrholm), still mourning her son, mother to two other daughters and a husband who looks like Bjorn Borg (Trond Espen Seim) realizes who Jan is as he performs a stirring version of Simon And Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Water.

Erik Poppe (Scandanavian Director of the Year 1994) constructs this tale (written by Harald Rosenløw-Eeg) out of chronological order. As details of Jan's crime are revealed, so too is Agnes's life of subsuming pain for the sake of her family, now opening scabs that will seemingly never heal.

Our allegiances keep flipping from Jan to Agnes and we end up wondering if there is any right resolution to this horrible escalating drama. We are shown every nuanced side of human reaction, from both sides: anger, denial, emptiness, vengeance, warmth, fear, loss of innocence.

As Jan's life coalesces into couplehood with the hot priest and her own 5-year-old, Jens (Fredrik Grøndahl), Agnes is resolute in destroying that relationship completely, to make him feel the loss that he made her feel.

Outside the American system, TROUBLED WATER doesn't need to conform to any arc of redemption. The sun almost shines for Jan, then the waters get dark and cloudy. Wade in...

I thought this film was very delicate, very sad, and beautiful. A story of forgiveness and second chances, atonement and renewal. Several motifs I thought were well used, water being one – representing cleansing and new beginnings. Also the use of an out of focus close-up shot of a face (there were 4 or 5 used), in my opinion, to offer the notion of doing something so awful you become unrecognizable even to yourself.

The main character plays the organ, and is mainly the only music used in the film. Which I think works very well, leaving space for moments of contemplation. The two main characters represent polar opposites in what they are trying to do in life (trying to move on from the past v. trying to hold onto the past) – both actors were excellent. I also enjoyed the way the film was divided and structured.

I really wanted to like this movie because one of my friends, with whom I have similar tastes with, recommended it. I loved the unique points of view of the camera and focus shots. The music was also amazing! Throughout the whole movie I kept wondering if the music was purposely written for this film. But the theme and story were a great disappointment. In the beginning, it seems like this man is a horrible person and you wonder how this movie will make him into a hero. But then, as the story unravels, it clears up the story little by little showing that this man is actually not who you thought he was. But not because you prejudged him (as in Les Misarables or similarly) but because the movie itself led you to believe that he was incarcerated for one crime, where he actually didn't commit it. So at the end you are just left with the feeling of broken judiciary system, rather than a transformation of character or feeling that you saw a different point of view. I did not feel enlightened from the predictable and a cliché "thriller" ending and ultimately felt like I watched a regular Hollywood movie.

Death does not play chess and there are no wild strawberries in this Norwegian picture, but the spirit of Ingmar Bergman dwells within it. Life is hard, angst and guilt are always present, doubt (theological and legal) and temptation preoccupy us, but redemption is a possibility.

Jan Thomas, convicted for the abduction and presumed murder of a young child, is paroled from prison and emerges with a gift for music. He lands a job as the organist for an Oslo church, makes great inventive music, and falls into a relationship with a sexy pastor and her preschool-aged son. Meanwhile, the victim's mother pursues him demanding to know the truth. Did Jan Thomas, who continues to profess his innocence, kill her son or not? These two story lines, one told in flashback, converge, the truth comes out in a tormented confession, and the credits roll.

The production values and acting here are fine. The characters interest the viewer. Unfortunately, there is no dramatic basis provided for the protagonist's action in abducting the young child, and there is no resolution provided for the questions that inevitably emerge from the drama. Will the guy get the girl? Will the victim's mother find peace of mind? Will Jan Thomas be saved? We never know, because the director of "Troubled Water" has concerned himself only with act two of what should have been a three-act drama.

In director Erik Poppe's film 'DeUsynlige' or Troubled Water when translated into English, follows a young man named Jan Hansen-played by Pål Hagen- who has been just released from a prison sentence because of his role in the death of a young boy when we was a teenager. A broken man, in spirit and body-he has broken fingers on his right hand-in his attempts to re-assimilate into life; he becomes an organist at a local church and befriends a female priest and her young son. While he is starting to get back on his feet, he cannot escape his past crimes as Agnes-the mother of the boy he killed played by Trine Dyrholm-and he himself cannot move on with life. The movie then follows these characters as they still struggle to come to terms with the terrible event that was the young boys death all those years ago. Jan Hansen attempts to bury his past actions, while Agnes's life falls apart as she still believes Jan is dangerous. When Jan becomes a fatherly figure to Jens, the female priest's son, emotions begin to spin out of control.

Poppe was long a cinematographer before gaining fame for directing with Hawaii, Oslo in 2004. Troubled Water follows the same line with Poppe's past cinematic style and a plot focused around multiple characters and the drama of human interaction. All of Poppe's movies experiment with color and lighting, showing his past as a cinematographer. However, it is immediately noticeable that there are large departures in the cinematographic style in Troubled Water compared to Hawaii, Oslo; Poppe's previous movies are brightly colored while Troubled Water is tinted grey. While this does sound like a critique-a movement toward an uninspired visual style-the drab coloring is very evocative of the tone and plot of the movie; enhancing emotional punch of the movie.

An emotional punch is a very succinct description of the way one feels when viewing Troubled Water. There are often events that are out of our control, or a mistake that can rule the rest of our lives; the question becomes how do we move on with life and advance forward though our past, especially if the event is life defining. This is the central question that Poppe explores in Troubled Water. To quote the Priest-also one of the central messages from the film-"Life goes in different ways". Jan Hansen can never undo his crime, and Agnes will never fully deal with her sons' death; the only solution for these individuals is a form of catharsis. The facing of ones issues head on.

One of the most thought provoking elements in Poppe's film is the role of religion. While this theme may be lost of foreign audiences, but the Nordic countries-the main audiences for this film- are deeply secular and unreligious. The movie makes one of the main set pieces a church, and throughout the movie there is a large amount of portrayal of communion and religious services--religion playing a large role is a bold move and a highly deliberate choice. The church is what offers Jan to find his footing-it gives him a much-needed family, a job, and purpose to his life. Troubled Water becomes used as an exploration of what is the role of religion in the deeply unreligious Nordic countries. In an angry explosion by Agnes to the priest about his hiring of a murderer, he calmly replies, "if he doesn't have a second chance here, then where will he?"

Poppe continues his excellent reputation he has built on Hawaii, Oslo with Troubled Water. Another excellently crafted human drama that will leave the viewer thinking long after they have finished watching. The dismal color scheme, the story unfolding in small parcels as we learn the truth about past events, the excellent acting performances all come together to make a truly great film. An exploration of how one deals with the tragedies of life and the role of religion even in a deeply secular society, it would do one well to use this movie as a lens and a lesson to view their own life. While the plot and themes may be extreme comparatively, the facing of our own problems is universal.