Ti kniver i hjertet

I love Scandinavian cinema. Limited dialogue and cinematographic minimalism. My hopes were elevated when I saw how this film was paralleled with the superior My Life As A Dog (1987). Cross My Heart And Hope To Die is skillfully directed by Marius Holst with adroit cinematography by Philip Ogaard. Martin Dahl Garfalk is fine as an Oslo teen who feels isolated. However, his life is turned upside down when a mysterious stranger comes to town. Cross My Heart And Hope To Die offers an engaging slice of Norwegian teen life.

I really did not like this film. It put me on edge for the entire 90 minutes and its ending was confused and unresolved.I think the major problem with it is its screenplay.Key scenes, pivotal plot moments, are thrown away by the director's nonsensical choices.One minute he's filming "This Boy's Life" and the next he's making a horror film.The lead boy actor says very few things and we really are not given access to empathy for him, and the key character of Frank was badly miscast. That actor seemed to think he was the lead in a vampire movie or something;"Beware, beware, when you least expect him.... Frank is there." What a mess. So many good films out there; don't waste your time on this one. PLEASE don't ask me how it got all those film fest awards; I just cannot imagine.

This film is in color but it felt black and white. Maybe because it is set in Norway but maybe because it's meant to be (and is) a cold, realistic vision of a young boy struggling with adolescence. I understand that Kornstad was an amateur; if so he gave an incredible performance, one that seemed to capture the director's vision. This story will probably not appeal to the viewer looking for the usual comedic coming of age tale.

Otto's family isn't going away for the summer break like almost everyone else in town. His parents can't afford it. He finds himself alone until an older mysterious stranger named Frank shows up. With no others his own age around, Otto begins to glimpse the world of the adults around him. From his father's accident, to finding a dead body in the lake to seeing his mother in a questionable situation with Frank, Otto begins to see the world differently.

Cross My Heart and hope to Die (Originally "Ti kniver i hjertet") is a profound coming of age movie directed by Marius Holst, his directorial debut.

The script is written by Lars Saabye Christensen together with Marius Holst, and is based on the novel "Gutten som ville være en av gutta" by Christensen released 1992.

Young teenager Otto lacks friends, and wants to be one of the lads. But he's is the smallest, and hardly good enough for the bench of his bad football team.

At a match a mysterious stranger, way older than him, grabs his attention, and immediately starts having a bad influence on him. Soon a string of bad things are happening.

This is a tense and interesting coming-of-age from the outskirts of Oslo.

Well written, great music (Magne Furholmen and Kjetil Bjerkestrand), beautifully fillmed (Philip Øgaard), and very recommendable. The film won several prizes, amongst them "Der Blaue Engel" in the main competition at the film festival in Berlin. It was also the best selling Norwegian movie in the cinemas in 1994.

The films has both a touch of feelgood and mystery, with a summer seen with the teenager's eyes. A summer which he will never forget. Well played by young Martin Dahl Garfalk and Jan Devo Kornstad, as the mysterious stranger.

This movie is made available in 2025 when it was released on interregional (region-free) Blu-Ray Disk by Norwegian Film Classics as the 67th release in a new series with classics, NFK0067, with subtitles in English, and is supposed to be held in stock for film lovers. It's well worth a watch!