X

Oddvar Einarsson's fictional feature debut X from 1986 is a film which have come high on score on important Norwegian films. This won the Jury's special prize at the Venezia Film Festival and Amanda Award for best film at the Norwegians Film Festival in Haugesund. It was also voted number 9 of the most important Norwegian films by film makers when Norwegian film celebrated 100 years anniversary.

The film is vibrantly showing the 80ies Oslo we remember. It feels like a documentary in style, but is still quite arty. Some shoots are sheer artwork. However watching it today might make you wonder why this was a prizewinner. Today it seems dated and quite amateurish, and very eighties. Norwegian filmmaking, as all, has come a long way since then, thankfully.

We meet the grittiest parts of Oslo, where some opening scenes is taken from house occupied by left wing house occupants. Houses which are to be torn down, but are occupied by young strays who have run away from home, or youngsters which need cheap living in a city with high housing prices.

The concert clip after 30 minutes, in a occupied house with the later well known Norwegian rockband Backstreet Girls is amazing, and I was a big fan of the band back then. The band originated in 1984, and this is a very early concert clip from their career, made in 1985. They're still alive and vibrantly kicking ass with the same members as back then! Music by Holy Toy is used throughout the movie.

We meet the photographer John Gabriel in his mid 20ies (played by later on famed musician and highly important Norwegian guitarist Jørn Christensen of Mercury Motors, CanCan, DePress, Circus Modern, Thinkerbell, CC Cowboys among others) which coincidentally meets 13 year old Flora (debuting Bettina Banoun later only to be seen in Thomas Robsahms debut Svarte Pantere/Rebels with a Cause) which have nowhere to sleep.They start off a love affair due to her need for affection. The film is more about art, finding yourself and loneliness than anything else.

Don't expect any sleazy stuff here! The love affair is just sweet superficial stuff. Very interesting time capsule from mid eighties Oslo, and fun to see a lot of well known artists in gallery vernissages and a couple of other situations. It enhances the realty feeling. This is interesting mostly to those wanting to update themselves on Norwegian films, those wanting to see the time capsule of Oslo and others with special interests.

This is released on DVD with good quality. This film had a long time in though and production. It was turned down already in 1974, and Einarsson himself says on an interview on the DVD that he was an angry young man back then. He had big problems in finding the finances to realize this and other films. He was especially angry on the Norwegian film milieu, and on imperialistic Cinemascope film making. The film turned up simpler than originally planned. He painted a huge X on a wall in downtown Oslo before he succeeded in getting the film financed.

Oddvar Einarsson made some films after this, but didn't copy th success from this. He was then back in the same financing situation as he was before X. He made a comeback in 2012 with the documentary "Finanseventyret", about a financial banking scandal in Norway, 22 years after his last feature film.

I have very few Norwegian films in my collection, and as a Norwegian myself I find the movies a bit stiff.

So far only 3 movies have fallen into my private collection: "X", "Frida", and "Junkmail".

"X" takes place in Oslo during the Winter in 1986. It's very difficult for me to explain the movie without giving away the plot. I wound say the main theme is about loneliness and passion in a city wintertime.

We meet this young girl, probably 12 years old, who wanders the cold streets alone looking for her older sister.

The movie moves into the darker side of the city. One scene is when she spends the night at an occupied apartment building. The authorities breaks the window throwing an stone in, and starts spraying water with hoses in the window, leaving it inhabitable.

She runs into the photographer, the first things she asks if he has a place to live.

The photographer invites Flora over. She ends up sleeping over, crawling into his bed. (There is nothing in the movie that indicates a sexual relationship, except caressing) The girl catches the photographers interest, and he takes some black and white pictures of her, crawled up in bed.

He is being reminded about the photo-exhibition due by the manager that comes by, but he does not have a theme yet.

He makes large magnifications of the pictures he has taken of her later and presents them at the exhibition where he is credited.

The style of the movies is long takes, also a complete rock performance at a club where the camera is still, there is no rapid dialog, and the sound of the cold wind, and gray cold streets.

It is just as much about loneliness and coldness, as of love. Love for a person, love for art, love for music.

This film won a price at the Venice Film Festival.

If you are known in the streets of Oslo, you will probably recognize some streets. The insides of the buildings does not exist anymore, most have been torn down and renovated to modern apartments. (Oslo is today right below Osaka and Tokyo in living costs)

I saw a photo of the woman who played the girl several years later (2005) in a newspaper, and she was now leader of a larger department. She said in the interview, that one of the most fun things in life she had done was to participate in this film. (This was her only film role)

I recorded the movie off air to mono VHS in letterbox, clean without channel logos or subtitles probably around 1990.

I don't think the movie has ever been released, so I'm happy to have my own "clean" copy.

If you are into action movies and don't like to think for yourself this movie is not for you, probably you will only like the rock band in the film. It definitely comes into the "art" section today.