See You in Valhalla

See You In Valhalla is an odd little indie film, and its eccentricity makes it a perfectly enjoyable watch for indie lovers.

Indie darlings tends to be rife with quirky characters and a bizarre-o enough story. While See You In Valhalla is missing the spark to make it a true darling, it is a nice little accomplishment for Brent and Jarret Tarnol.

Johana Burwood, played by Sarah Hyland (a producer of the film), must return home after not seeing her estranged family for four years when her brother dies in a crazy and strange manner. When home, she confronts her past and siblings and work past the discomfort to finally come to terms with what she left behind.

See You in Valhalla sounds cliché and contrived, but it is in the details of the characters that it reveals itself as quite original. The plot follows a typical arch in development but the plot moments that progress it are unique. See You in Valhalla is a performance driven film, and the actors are the shining points. Steve Howey, maybe I'm just a sucker for the television show Shameless, but Howey's role as the gay hippie lover Makewi is my favorite.

See You in Valhalla is probably not a film for everyone as the combative dysfunction of the family will be potentially off-putting for some more conservative viewers. As far as indie comedies go, though it may be imperfect, you can do far worse.

Please check out our website for full reviews of all the recent releases.

a good film, very well depicting the family dynamics, when things suddenly aren't as simple as you thought any more, and you can't tamp it all down using the rules of courtesy. I liked the viking reference, as I also, like a previous reviewer, have Scandinavian roots. I believe that was done well. I found it frustrating, though, to try afterwards to find the book which we were shown repeatedly, 'remember the viking', supposedly by an author named Stevenson Abernathy, and not be able to find such a thing. If the book is fictitious, I would say that is very poor, since there are countless good reference books the movie creator could have chosen to place there.

I believe a very difficult role to 'get right' was that of the nurse/life coach for Daddy. It would have been easy to fall into a trap of coming across as either a bit of a bimbo or a too-serious zealot, but the actress avoided both of those pitfalls and came across as a woman who has seen hard times, but preserved an inherent sense of dignity

As soon as I finished the movie, I went in here to see what people was saying about it. The reason for this, was that I really liked this movie and I don't know why. As I read on metacritic, I would agree it has all been seen and done before, but for some reason, this just felt right and believable. Especially one scene which seems to re-live childhood brotherly shenanigans (totally saw my brother and me back then - and some time we still do it ;) )

The viking angle was something I found enjoyable, perhaps because I'm a dane - I don't know. But what he said, could have been said by friend of mine who practice Asa-faith (The believe of the vikings).

To sum it up; Good movie. Been done before but somehow, this one is different.

** disclaimer, the plot of the movie explained.

It is a good movie. Very simple, not complex. Which is what makes it a good movie. Basic Family strife, with a generalized American family dynamic. Simple resolve. It shows how silly arguments can destroy families and how easy it is to let it all go, With the help of outsiders looking in.

As some other reviewers complained about the lack complex characters or further explanations, I don't feel they were necessary in this movie. Enough information was given for you to follow the what the movie is about. A broken family that is being healed. Simple.

I started watching this and eleven minutes in, couldn't take much more of it. Then I decided I should give it another chance, since I really hadn't. It started to get a little better, then just got weird. The ending was so bizarre, no spoiler here...I just felt awkward for the actors having to pull off the scene. It was almost as they knew "this is crap", but did their best. Sarah Hyland was pretty good in it, the acting was fine but the writing was all over the place. It was almost like they were making it up as they went along. It was hard to relate to, and I have a pretty strange family myself. Not to be unkind, but spend your time doing something else.