Upperdog

I had great expectations for this film since it was according to my Norwegian friend "The best film of the year in Norway".

I was disappointed. It felt like a school film for me. It had a lot of nice scenes in it, but I felt that the classical chaos theory of everyone involving everyone just didn't work in this film. The film is a Norwegian version of Babel or Short Cuts. However this one is a bit too lame to even compare with those to film landmarks.

I had a big problem of relating to any of the characters. My only sympathies went to the soldier character who had a slight problem with event that occurred in Afganistan? He had a tragic tale and somewhat interesting storyline. But otherwise the whole movie was just classical: I'm looking out the window because I'm sad and life is odd and difficult drama.

The film was nicely directed, filmed and acted, but there is really no story. And it doesn't hold together. The only points come the tale of the soldier and what happened in his storyline. You could actually make a good feature film out of that story.

If you like artsy people being lost in their lives and looking out the window, this is your film.

Two siblings from Thailand are adopted by different families. They lose contact. One of them forgets completely and one tries to. But a Polish maid functions as fate and they finally get together again. That's not uncomplicated.

The same goes for all adoptions, especially when the children come from another culture. Of course the feelings between the new parents and the children don't differ from common parents-children relations, but there ought to be thoughts. What would have become of them if they weren't brought to the new country? Some of these questions are put here, but more intriguing is the drama that takes place for other reasons with a Norwegian Afghanistan veteran involved. Clever handicraft, which doesn't get under your skin.

Movies like this can be quite a challenge. Telling several stories that interconnect requires each of the stories to be interesting on its own accord, the stories to have similar themes, yet being different enough to justify including all of the stories. The connection between the characters has to be plausible, and not feel faked. And, maybe most important, it should end as an individual conclusion to each of the stories, and at the same time as some sort of shared thematic climax. Or something to that effect.

In Upperdog, the four characters you follow all have quite different stories, different problems, and different journeys. They are interconnected in a (mostly) plausible way, while the individual stories mostly work as independent stories as well. Some characters are more interesting than others, but they are all different enough that every time you change point of view, it's refreshing. The acting is good, making the characters engaging even in their most unsympathetic moments.

What drags this movie down, is the ending. Not only does it last a bit too long, but it doesn't feel like the end of a thematic journey, but rather a temporary end to each of the character's situations. Some characters falls into the shadow of others, and as the credit roll, you're left feeling that the movie never really came together.

I would say that this is one of the best movies ever made in Norway, if not THE best movie. I will lay that on the wonderful acting and casting, the details and subtle direction that makes a real movie with real people. You don't ever feel like you're being told what's happening, because you can feel it. The emotions and the causes of them are played out before your eyes and you know why all the time.

This is not a sad movie, although the people are pretty sad, and it's not a happy movie. It's a movie that speaks to your heart. I was sitting in a small movie theatre and the seventeen year old girls sitting in front of me couldn't be more bored. And I understand why. They couldn't relate to the people on the screen, who had experienced life, although they were pretty young themselves. But a seventeen year old girl doesn't know what it's like to experience real love and loss, or real betrayal. The rest of us couldn't have been more into the movie. This is what real love looks like. How real people act and react.

I don't want to front any of the actors, because they were all perfect. The director, Sara Johnsen, is a shining star and she really knows how to work with the actors, that really shows. But the most impressing thing is her careful eye for the story and how to tell it without over telling.

I am truly amazed and I truly loved this movie. See this with someone and you will have much to talk about afterwards.