L'art de la pensée négative

I recently saw this at the 2008 Palm Springs International Film Festival and of the 38 films I saw there this year, the Art of Negative Thinking has emerged as my film favorite. Fist of all, this is a small film shot in 20 days with little obvious budget. Almost the entire film is filmed on location in a house and besides the cast, the most expensive overhead was probably the rights to use Johnny Cash and some other great 60's 70's music and some snippets of a few movies. This is a dark comedy and the comedy is very, very funny and it's usually unexpected and right around the corner throughout the film. What makes this film all the more amazing is it is the debut feature film from it's writer/director Bård Breien both as a writer and as a director. Geirr (Fridtjov Såheim) is a paraplegic whose once idyllic life of matrimonial bliss to Ingvild (Kirsti Eline Torhaug) has been shattered by his paralysis. Ingvild wants to stay with him but Geirr has withdrawn from her and the world and spends his days watching 1970's Vietnam themed films on TV and listening to Johnny Cash records while he gets drunk and smokes pot, living on pizza, wearing an Army jacket and a silly cap and harboring an unhealthy fascination with handguns. Tori (Kjersti Holmen) is a national health psychologist who is the head of a state run positivity group program for victims of paralysis. Ingvild has contracted Tori to try to enroll Geirr in her program and since Gierr is naturally resistant to the idea, Tori takes her group to him. Marte (Marian Saastad Otteson) is a quadriplegic who is Tori's star pupil in positive thinking. Gard (Henrik Mestad) is Marte's boyfriend who has joined the group in support of Marte. Asbjørn (Per Schaaning) is a once successful businessman who as the result of stress and alcoholism suffered a debilitating stroke. Lillemar wears a neck brace for sympathy but is a bitter 65 year old divorcée. This is a great ensemble cast with each a memorable character. This is one of those films that makes me laugh days and weeks after seeing it. I would give this a 10 out of 10 and highly recommend it.

what you might expect when entering the theaters for this movie is a sad little feel-sorry movie from ice-cold Norway. I mean, how can a movie with handicapped people be any fun? well, lets start with the colourful ensemble of characters in this movie. first there's of course geirr, an impotent wheelchair bound master of the negative, that looks like he's been to Vietnam and back a dozen times, who compensates his lack of "drive" with a ridiculously large handgun. there's also a rebellious grandmother, a stroke-victim, a paralyzed woman with a grin plastered firmly on her face, and a cast of control-freak "healthy" people. mix this together, and you have a healthy dose of facades being torn down for some self-destructive letting lose. its a fresh breath of air amidst the dreary number of gangster wannabe movies thats been pouring out of norwegian cinemas.

as a bonus on the DVD, you get a small movie about a thug with a bad back filmed in a documentary-style manner, which is also worth a watch.

another glittering gem in Norways collection of weird little movies.

This guy has it tough, no doubt about it. An accident put Geirr (Fridtjov Såheim) in a wheelchair, literally bringing his life to a standstill. Disability insurance has made him a wealthy man, but he spends his days locked in a darkened room, watching "Apocalypse Now", listening to "Folsom Prison Blues", doing dope and booze, following the example of the Man in Black himself in nearly every way. Geirr's girlfriend Ingvild (Kirsti Torhaug) tries to grin and bear it, but it's obvious she could use some help. Well, she isn't going to get it from Tori (Kjersti Holmen), an annoying Martha Stewart type self-help guru, or her flying circus of misfits. Instead, Geirr is about to teach the group a valuable lesson and serve them a "hot dog for your brain." Great performances. Extremely refreshing. Surprisingly violent. But these clowns, they had it coming. See it with your kids.

a cool film about a physically disabled group thinking in a positive way, until a new member enters the gang unwillingly on his part. suddenly everyone comes to terms of how miserable they really are, which is not necessarily a bad moment in their li...(read more)ves. they rather seem to have a new purpose in life in a most enjoyable destructive way. the characters are just funny as hell, and i think the film easily could have gone 1 hour longer with great results. this was Oscar worthy in my opinion, but it was also too short. if there would be better time exploring the characters that would be great, because there really was something special about these people in wheelchairs that makes you think of what you usually take for granted. the relationship between Geirr and his wife was really powerful and seemed so real and conflicting. everyone should see this film as a sake of not missing out on something great.

I was looking forward to this movie for months. And not because I studied in Norway, but because we are overwhelmed with American love stories, sad stories, catastrophic movies, movies that have to last at least 2 hours and make your body ache with pain. I just wanted to see a movie that has actually something to say, can say it clearly enough and be entertaining at the same time. And it all came true! This film is very much about the fact, that feeling depressed and angry can be sometimes more useful that false positive and light-hearted approach. It helps the pain go away much faster and you can finally, at this desperate and hopeless moment, start a new chapter of your life with a clean slate. Things that we all keep in our minds and are ashamed to think of or even to say aloud are spoken and discussed vividly here with all the logical consequences. And with all this said, you will rather laugh through out this movie than cry or have deep thoughts. They come later :-)