Åpen framtid

Open Future (Åpen framtid) was released December 26th 1983 as Svend Wam & Petter Vennerøds fifth directing collaboration, but it was Wam's eight. The Norwegian film duo has made a solid impression on Norwegian movie history as they were rebels operating outside the system.

Filkmed by the very talented cinematographer Philip Øgaard the movie takes us back to the latter part og the 1960ies, but we really feel it's an eighties movie.

The film is following the rebellious Pål, both in real time and in flashbacks, mostly as a littel kid. Pål struggles with old teachers, school. Pål is played by Thomas Robsahm, an often used young actor by V&W, and I think this is his best role. Erik is played by Are Sjaastad and Julie Wiggen is playing Ruth. There's a clear sexual tension lying underneath.

Director Petter Vennerød has a suitable cameo as a revolutionary in this movie.

The film is deliciously littered with great Norwegian actors in tiny roles many regularly used by Wam & Vennerød. The soundtrack is really good, and sound is better than ever on the new Blu-Ray realease.

A lot of well known Norwegian musicians play on the soundtrack, f.e. Michael Krohn from Raga Rockers, and the soundtrack has songs by Trond Granlund, Tore Hansen, Svein Gundersen og Håkon Iversen.

V&W made a lot of successes but the movies were never really critically acclaimed. This movie is no exception, but I still think it's interesting, even if it's a little stiff occasionally.

I wouldn't have seen this again if it hadn't been for the project "Norwegan Film Classics" which started 2023, where this is movie no. 29. And it's better than I thought earlier, so rating is raised from 4 to 6/10 giving it a little "age credit". This is really a charming movie. And you could always say W&V never made boring movies.

It is likely that the contemporaries judged W&V too harshly, at least in relation to the budgets they had, and where would Norwegian cinema have been without them? After all, they showed that there were opportunities for success outside the established film system in Norway.

This movie is made available in 2024 when it was released on interregional Blu-Ray Disk by Norwegian Film Classics as the 29th release in a new series with classics, NFK0029, with subtitles in English, and is supposed to be held in stock for film lovers.

With a great soundtrack and the talented cinematographer Philip Øgaard onboard, Wam & Vennerød's "Åpen framtid" takes you vividly back to the late 1960s (with a little hint of the early 1980s), when the Norwegian boomer generation were disillusioned youths influenced by Mao, rock music, hashish, and the sexual revolution. In the opening segments, the film takes us through some harrowing flashbacks that visualize our protagonist Pål's frustrations with a school system that has failed him, after which the filmmakers try to tap into the aforementioned 1960s zeitgeist with varying levels of success. The story moves predictably and rarely with much flow, but Pål and his friend Erik are fairly interesting characters and surprisingly good company to spend a couple of hours with. Thomas Robsahm gives arguably his best performance here, and Are Sjaastad is fine opposite him. The supporting roles are populated by several Wam & Vennerød regulars.