Hawaii, Oslo (2004) or, Turkeyville, Oslo

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A man is trapped in a kaleidoscopic image on this poster for Erik Poppe's Hawaii, Oslo

A series of destinies are intertwined in Oslo: A woman who is attempting suicide. Two orphan boys. A mentally disabled man. A mentally ill man. A couple with a baby that's dying. But really we focus on two 25 year-olds, who meet again after 10 years, because they agreed as teenagers to marry ten years into the future.

 

Hawaii, Oslo is written by Harald Rosenløw-Eeg (The Wave/Bølgen (2015)), with story contribution from co-writer/director Erik Poppe (Schpaaa (2005)).

Aside from the improbabilities this unromantic, unfunny and depressing film offers a slow and pretentious narrative without a single appealing character in it. Hawaii, Oslo is a multi-plot, fate-crossing turkey of a rare Norwegian breed.

 

Poppe gives an interview about his next film in this video

 

Cost: Est. 20 mil. NOK, or approximately 2.2 mil. $

Box office: 2 mil. $

=  Huge flop (returned 0.90 times its cost)

[Hawaii, Oslo premiered 26 August (Norwegian International Film Festival) and runs 125 minutes. Shooting took place in Oslo, Norway. The film was quite successful in Norway, where it sold 168k tickets. In Denmark it sold just 811. 98.3 % of the film's recorded gross is from Norway, with the remainder coming from the Netherlands. It won 2/4 Amanda awards. Poppe returned with Troubled Water/deUsynlige (2008). 4.8k+ IMDb users have given Hawaii, Oslo a 7.0/10 average rating.]

 

What do you think of Hawaii, Oslo? 

Film Excess' 5th birthday movie masterpiece: Hunger/Sult/Svält (1966) - Oscarsson leaves you breathless in Carlsen's impressionist masterpiece

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Per Oscarsson lifts his hat for us on this ominously discolored poster for Henning Carlsen's Hunger

A man by the name of Pontus is an aspiring writer, who is becoming increasingly desperate with hunger in Kristiania [now known as Norway's capital Oslo] in 1890. His Achilles heel, however, is also his own over-developed pride, which makes him give away the few kroner he acquires now and then to others in need.

Hunger is an adaptation of Norwegian master writer Knut Hamsun's (Pan (1894)) semi-autobiographical, same-titled 1890 novel, written by Peter Seeberg (Hjulet (1967), based on his novel) and Danish master co-writer-director Henning Carlsen (A Happy Divorce/Un Divorce Heureux/En Lykkelig Skilsmisse (1975)). It is a complex and serious film that can be seen again and again. It is equally amazing every time.
Pontus is a miserable wretch, and you can't help but feel for him in the guise of Per Oscarsson (Polisen som Vägrade Ta Semester (1984), miniseries): At turns highly sensitive and going mad, he tries to uphold his dignity but the painful starvation drives out his polemical side and hallucinations. Oscarsson's performance here will leave you breathless; it stands tall as one of the all-time greatest actor's performances in cinema. You are not likely to ever see anyone portray the effects of hunger with more potency than he achieves here.
Hunger is shot stunningly in B/W by Carlsen himself, and its atmosphere and beautiful lighting are beyond reproach. Hunger is a striking, deeply affecting impressionist major work of art as well as a high-point in Scandinavian film, a masterpiece of the highest integrity.

Related posts:


Henning Carlsen: Memories of My Melancholy Whores/Memoria de Mis Putas Tristes (2011) - Carlsen signs out with a dubious adaptation

Previous Film Excess birthday movie masterpieces: Film Excess' 4th birthday movie masterpiece: From Here to Eternity (1953) - Zinnemann, Taradash and Jones' Hawaii-set classic
Film Excess' 3rd birthday movie masterpiece: Anatomy of a Murder (1959) - The courtroom movie to rule them all
Film Excess' 2nd birthday movie masterpiece: The King's Speech (2010) - Hooper's soaring, royal masterpiece about overcoming human frailty

Film Excess' 1st birthday movie masterpiece: Broadway Danny Rose (1984) or, Keep Your Heart

Watch the hypnotic opening scene of the film here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: Unknown
= Uncertain
[Hunger premiered 11 May (Cannes Film Festival, in competition) and runs 111 minutes. It was the first co-production between Denmark, Sweden and Norway. Shooting took place in Oslo, Norway. Oscarsson starved himself and walked a very long distance to the shooting in order to get into character. Many of the streets shown in the film do no longer exist. The film reportedly sold a measly 3,951 tickets in Carlsen's native Denmark. It was released in the three producing countries, Finland, USA and Australia initially, but its box office performances are unlisted. Oscarsson won the Best Actor award in Cannes, and the film was Denmark's bid for the Best Foreign Film category at the Oscars, but it was not nominated. The film additionally won a National Board of Review award, a Guldbagge (Sweden's Oscar) for Oscarsson and two Bodil awards (Danish film critics' awards). Carlsen returned with People Meet and Sweet Music Fills the Heart/Människor Möts och Ljuv Musik Uppstår i Hjärtat (1967). Oscarsson returned as a guest in The D.T.'s/Myten (1966) and with real parts in Patrasket (1966, TV movie) and ABC Stage 67 (1966, TV-series) and theatrically in Here Is Your Life/Här Har Du Ditt Liv (1966). 2,359 IMDb users have given Hunger a 7.9/10 average rating.]

What do you think of Hunger?

Blind (2014) - Vogt's artistic debut about blindness makes its audience confused and depressed

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Lead Ellen Dorrit Petersen (Thelma (2017)) exhibits her naked backside on the poster for Eskil Vogt's Blind

A blind woman remembers her boyfriend, when he is away from her, and when he is there, she feels far away from him. Another lonely woman misses her son, when he is not with her, and she seeks a new human connection.

Blind is the feature directing debut for writer-director Eskil Vogt (Oslo, August 31st/Oslo, 31. August (2011), co-writer). It is a depressing Norwegian drama, in which characters are lonely, awkward, disloyal SPOILER and, - as if to make matters worse, - the woman with the son also suddenly and inexplicably becomes blind. The introverted male character guides us thoroughly through his masturbation and porn habits. - But what for? Besides it possibly adding a tangent to the general, grey picture of depressing adult life in Norway, which is projected in Blind.
The blindness that the film deals with certainly makes it more uncomfortable, because audiences unavoidably imagine themselves put in the horrific situation of losing one's vision, and the inevitable everyday results of the handicap: The spots that would go unnoticed, the things we would be walking into; the secrets that might evolve due to our defect, and the distance to the surrounding world. Blind cultivates these issues and in doing so leaves the one-sided impression that life with blindness is only sad, lonely and miserable. The artistic strokes of Vogt's film don't save it from being uncompelling and depressing.

Related posts:

2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 

Vogt gave en interview at the London Film Festival about Blind that you can watch here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: Unknown
= Unknown (likely at least a huge flop)
[Blind premiered 17 January (Sundance) and runs 96 minutes. Shooting took place in Oslo, Norway. The film won festival and some critical acclaim but has no box office performances released and is likely to have made very little money and become a huge flop theatrically. This article indicates that it was also a box office disappointment in Norway, where it had sold some 6k tickets after two weeks. The film was nominated for two Sundance awards, winning Vogt a screenwriting prize, nominated for the Nordic Council Film Prize, won a distribution prize at Berlin International Film Festival, an AFI Fest nomination and 4 out of 7 nominations at the Norwegian Amanda Awards. Vogt has focused on screenwriting since the film; he has written for countryman Joachim Trier's latest two films, Louder Than Bombs (2015) and Thelma (2017). Blind is fresh at 94 % with a 7.7/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Blind?

Oslo, August 31st/Oslo, 31. August (2011) - Trier's tough-as-nails existentialist drug addict drama

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1 Time Film Excess Nominee:


Best Actor: Anders Danielsen Lie (lost to Jack Black for Bernie)

+ Best Norwegian Movie of the Year
+ Best Drug-themed Movie of the Year

Anders Danielsen Lie on deep water in Joachim Trier's Oslo, August 31st

Anders was an aspiring journalist, but instead became a drug addict. Now he is allowed his first visit out of the rehabilitation center, and he visits old friends and acquaintances and goes to a job interview. But to his dismay he finds that as a 34 year-old man, he has nothing.

Great Norwegian writer-director Joachim Trier (Reprise (2006)) here serves an existentialist, anxiety-provoking, almost horrifying story without any psychedelic or narrative sleights. Oslo, August 31st is observant and incredibly sober.
The film contains strong scenes between two people; strong because the stakes are towering for our protagonist. Anders Danielsen Lie (Reprise) is unmatched in the lead. The film is seamlessly photographed (by Jacob Ihre (Louder than Bombs (2015)) and scored (by Torgny Amdam (High Point (2014), short) and Ola Fløttum (Force Majeure/Turist (2014))) with seemingly great insight into the environments it portrays. SPOILER As could be expected from the fatalistic tone of the film's title as well as its opening montage, Oslo, August 31st ends as a tragedy, swept in Norwegian nihilism in a morbidly long death-shot. It is, however, the following shots of the city's unregistering continuation that gives the ending its heavy, heavy weight. This really is a very hard film.
A fire extinguisher gets introduced on a bike ride, which seems only to be there to loan the film some different, cinematic shots, which is a little curious but fine.
The suspense of the film relates to Anders' life. Only for a few seconds did I have reason to think, whether that might be a bit slight for an entire feature. Trier wrote the screenplay with Eskil Vogt (Blind (2014)), based on the novel Will O' the Wisp (1931) by Pierre Drieu la Rochelle (The Man on Horseback/L'Homme à Cheval (1943)).
Oslo, August 31st is an incredibly good film and surely one of the best recent Norwegian films. Trier is out with his first English-language film at the moment, Louder than Bombs, a drama with Jesse Eisenberg and other prominent actors.


Related posts:
 
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2011 in films - according to Film Excess
 

Anders Danielsen Lie's look speaks volumes in Joachim Trier's Oslo, August 31st

Watch the trailer for the film here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: At least 1.4 mil. $
= Uncertainty
[But most likely a huge flop. Norway is perhaps the world's most expensive country, and 1.4 mil. $ basically just buys you a cup of coffee there. The film premiered in the Un Certain Regard section in Cannes. The budget was low but isn't publicized, and the box office result is based on the figures from 9 countries, publicized on Box Office Mojo. The film may have gone to other countries as well. It was biggest in Norway, where it made an impressive 0.9 mil. $, and it also was a minor hit in France with 0.2 mil. $. It made 0.1 mil. $ in the US, where Roger Ebert named it the 9th best film of the year.]

What do you think of Oslo, August 31st?

Headhunters/Hodejegerne (2011) - Norwegian craftsman Tyldum's thriller springboard

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The slick, original poster for Morten Tyldum's Headhunters

QUICK REVIEW:

Roger is just 1.68 meters tall; he cheats and steals art pieces, beside his headhunting job, to fund his consumerist high-life. A candidate for a job owns an expensive painting that Roger now decides to steal. But this candidate is more dangerous than expected.

Headhunters is an exciting and handsomely produced romantic action thriller, based on Norwegian writer Jo Nesbø's (The Leopard/Panserhjerte (2011)) 2008 novel of the same name.
Once the hunt really gets started, the film gets unnecessarily gross. And the girlfriend's loyalty throughout the film is more than a little incredible. But Headhunters is still a very finely chiseled thriller with a somewhat surprising ending, SPOILER in which Roger leaves 'the game'.
It is written by Ulf Ryberg (The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest/Luftslottet som Sprängdes (2009)) and Lars Gudmestad (The Orheim Company/Kompani Orheim (2012)) and directed by Norwegian shooting star director Morten Tyldum (The Imitation Game (2014)), who is now in pre-production with a thriller, Pattern Recognition, and a supernatural series, Counterpart.

Related review:

Morten Tyldum: The Imitation Game (2014) - Great Cumberbatch, good movie

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau in Morten Tyldum's Headhunters

Watch the English-subtitled trailer for the film here

Cost: 30 mil. NOK. (around 4 mil. $)
Box office: 15.3 mil. $
= Big hit
[Headhunters is the highest-grossing Norwegian film of all time, (although a Swedish-Danish-Norwegian-German co-production, it is mostly a Norwegian film.) It was a big hit in Norway, where 557k paid admission. It has gotten great reviews and several award nominations and a few wins. It made 1.1 mil. $ (7 % of the total gross) in the US.]

What do you think of Headhunters?