Nord

I saw this last month at the 2010 Palm Springs International film Festival. This is a quirky dark comedy written for the screen by Erlend Loe who also wrote a book that another great quirky Norwegian film was adapted from recently called in it's English title Gone with the Woman. Nord reminded me an an abstract sense of the film Little Big Man where the lead character goes through a journey meeting a wide variety of people along the way in wonderful small on screen roles with even an old wise and worldly Saami fisherman waiting to die instead of an old wise and worldly native American waiting to die. Jomar (Anders Bassmo Christiansen) is a former skier who works at a ski hill and has battled alcoholism and has been hospitalized with psychiatric problems since he lost his girlfriend five years earlier. After a fight with his former best friend Lasse (Kyree Hellum) he learns his former girlfriend had a son by him so he sets out on a snowmobile for an improbably long journey of a few hundred miles to northern Norway near the arctic circle. He meets along the way some very isolated people in Lotte (Marte Aumemo) and her grandmother, Ulrik (Mads Sjøgård Pettersen), and Ailo and his granddaughter. (Lars Olsen). Excellent winter scape cinematography by Phillip Øgaard and smartly directed by Rune Denstad Langlo this is not a long film and it's definitely worth a look. I would give this an 8.5 out of 10 and recommend it.

Unassuming little movie about a sad man who has trouble fitting in, no matter where he goes. Leaving a trail of smoking shacks and burning barns, Jomar is headed north on his snow mobile to seek out his son. He doesn't always travel in a straight line, but who said you have to? On the way, he meets his share of strangers, some of them friendly, others not so friendly. But then, Jomar isn't the most easy-going of visitors himself. You might say he is on an educational journey, but the lessons aren't all that clear. Among other things, he finds out about a unique way to get drunk that involves a razor, a patch of sandpaper, and a tampon. He also learns about the ancient art of springtime suicide as practiced by the tribal elders of Troms County. Cheating death more than once in the unforgiving wilderness of Northern Norway, he is finally given back to life. - Nice, eclectic soundtrack with some rare roots tracks.

Movies like this are about the journey itself, and not the destination, so I am fine with the plot itself. A man travels and meets people on his way. The meetings in this movie are all quite neat. The main character meets some people that all challenge the isolation he has been living in, and it seems like those he meet influence him as much as he influences them. It's about all the problems we have, big and small.

But there's too little of this. This is not a long movie (less than 90 minutes), but it still felt long due to gaps in the narrative where not much happens. There would have been room for plenty more good moments in this movie, and you feel robbed once it over because they never came, and the great moments that's there just aren't enough.

This film got highly praised at the Berlin festival before it's cinema release in Norway, winning two of the main prizes. It also became a huge hit at the festival, with tickets going on the black market.

Well, the film isn't a blockbuster. It's a nice, though tragic, but warm story about 30 year old Jomar, not particularly successful in his life. Actually his life stinks, and he has problems. And he knows it. Lying to his shrink, living unhealthy, and not caring about anything. In fact so uncaring, that he finds himself burning down the ski center where he works, almost forcing him to look somewhere else for the meaning of his life.

So Jomar goes off on a 900 kilometers trip up North to find what is supposed to be his four year old son, of which he didn't know about, before slapping his best friend who'd run off with his girlfriend some time ago.

On this trip he meets all kinds of lonely people, all having some kinds of wisdom to offer. And Jomar? Does he change their lives? Maybe he does...

This story by Norwegian master-writer Erlend Loe, gives a great feeling of both great winter-nature, and human understanding. It'll be seen upon as exotic by most foreigners, and the film has some scenes you'll never forget.

This film is another example of how great Norwegian storytelling on film has become. Great acting, also from the amateurs. No fake Hollywood stuff here. Pure Nordic realistic storytelling with a hint of humor. If you liked the films of Bent Hamer and Coen-brothers, you also like this.

The only thing dragging down is the film being too short. We'd actually like Jomars trip to be longer. And that's a sign of a great road move. Or rather, a great off-road movie, since the film is more going on off-road, than on road. I still think I'll put it in the genre of road-movies.

Another spot on Norwegian film! What a gem!

I felt that this film had a problem with the lack of story.

Somehow the film starts brilliantly and there is a brilliant scene with a teenager boy who has, at the least to say, a lot of problems.

Those were the brilliant parts of the film. I thought after the first 15 minutes, that this is going to be a masterpiece, but then it just dies. The plot vanishes and somehow the ending doesn't give enough to justify the lack of the plot.

The main actor does a fantastic job and there is a lot of good in the cinematography, although I sometimes felt that this was an advertisement of Norway. There were so many landscape shots that you could easily get bored with them.

The music choice was also a little bit odd. It sounded like a country-tune coming straight from Texas. Do people like country music in Norway? Even with it's problems, it is a nice film to watch as an voice from Norway.