Budbringeren

This film depicts Oslo as a rather run-down city which, as far as I can remember, it is not; and as for the Norwegian Postal Service ...well that seems to be struggling along if we can judge by the unreliable antics of Roy (Robert Skjaerstad), one of the young postmen. He not only opens and reads private mail, but also lets himself into an apartment when he finds a key left in a mail-box. His exploration of the rooms leaves little time for delivering letters so he dumps the contents of his bag in a railway tunnel. The irony of the situation is that he is awarded a gold watch for bravery in attendance to his duties after being badly beaten up in the streets. The originality of the story is completely charming as it blends romance, suspense and comedy in which Roy seems to get involved at every turn. One scene I particularly like is the one in which a locomotive almost runs him down in the tunnel and scatters his letters high and wide like a flurry of snowflakes. It's just one of many quaint scenes. In another scene he is on the point of being gunned down in his own grungey apartment when nearby jackhammers reverberate throughout the whole building giving him the opportunity to make his get-away. There is a suspenseful moment when he slips an iron bar through the doorhandles of a public toilet imprisoning a frantic gunman. Unfortunately for Roy (always a loser it seems) his inscribed wrist watch falls off in his struggle and so the gunman is eventually able to trace his whereabouts. The film is short and sweet, well worth watching. It has a lot of originality in the script and the acting is first class. The film suggests we should look under our beds before retiring . One never knows who may be hiding there...particularly in Oslo.

JUNK MAIL (3+ outta 5 stars) Offbeat but sincere comedy-thriller about a lonely postman who comes across a set of keys accidentally left in the mailbox by a cute young girl on his route. He makes a copy of her keys and secretly checks out her apartment while she is at work. He also has a habit of disposing of junk mail in an out of the way train tunnel (whether this is out of sheer laziness or to spare the people on his route the bother is never really explained). One day he accidentally falls asleep and is trapped inside the girl's bedroom when she comes home from work and then... well, to give any more away would definitely ruin your enjoyment so I'll stop there. Suffice to say that things get a little more complicated. This quirky little Norwegian film didn't get a whole lot of attention on its US release. Too bad... it's well-written and well-acted and definitely worth checking out. Sort of a kinder and gentler version of "Blue Velvet".

I was hooked when I sat down (only meaning to sit down for 5 mins), on the TV this girl lamely resorting to saying 'walking' when asked what one of her co-workers is good at. In the film, the main character, a man in his late thirties, not faring too well in life who's just waiting for something to happen, runs into the same woman several times and starts to take an interest in her. When he sees her leave a key in her mailbox while on the job he can't resist; this was the first in many instances that left me saying "what the hell is this guy doing?". Not only does he check out her apartment but he gets the key copied, and even gets trapped there on a return visit, resorting to hiding under the bed when the woman unexpectedly arrives. Like the other reviewers were saying, this film does make Oslo look a bit shabby (not that I've been there). It's is worth watching, just to see what this guy gets up to and it's a memorable viewing experience.

A twisty-turny narrative that ultimately leads nowhere, avoiding both exposition and explanation at the end of the day. Like a Nordic Coen Brothers film, this is more concerned with portraying quirky characters and odd scenarios, but despite some nifty camerawork, it is a rather ugly film, revelling in its depressingly squalid milieu without making any real point at the end of the day. The anti-hero remains a complete enigma throughout, but funnily enough, despite my reservations at the beginning, it was rather hard not to be won over at the end of the day. There were some marvellously taut action and suspense sequences, and some hilariously humourous scenes. Rather similar to most Scandinavian films I've seen actually. Dark grey and depressing, but blackly comic.

Once we rented this movie just to see what it was about. We were fairly impressed. It focuses on Oslo mailman Roy Amundsen, who is sort of down on his luck. Then, he gets interested in a woman and starts following her around. When she leaves her key in a mailbox, he has it copied, gets locked in her apartment, and gets a little (or a lot) more than he bargained for! Some of the world's most interesting movies have come from Scandinavia (e.g., anything by Ingmar Bergman). "Budbringeren" (called "Junk Mail" in English) is no exception. This look at some of Norway's grittier aspects is truly eye-opening. Maybe it's not any kind of masterpiece, but it's still an interesting slice-of-life tale.