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Customer Reviews:
- Provocative Norwegian film is worth seeing: This Norwegian film starts with a man jumping over the subway, apparently commiting suicide. But the next scene shows him arriving in a lonely bus into a desert. There he meets a man, and is shipped off to a mysterious city, where he starts working in an aseptic modern office as an accountant. The coworkers seem nice, if emotionless, and he soon meets a woman who becomes his girlfriend, yet the city seems utterly strange, as the food has no taste, alcohol doesn't make you drunk, and there's nary a children around. Is this a dream, or is he in paradise, or in hell?. While at times, the films looks as extended episode of The Twilight Zone (even at ninety minutes, the movie seems a bit long), it is quite thought provoking. The best scenes are those in which the exaggeration is minimal, as when the people engage in banal conversations about interior decoration, and recoil at discussing deeper issues. I always thought there was something inhuman in advanced capitalist societies, in the way they try to repress the basic urges of human nature. And this movie is best when it devastatingly critiques this life style. Unfortunately, the movie is a bit too long, and the director doesn't seem to know how to end it, but most for of the running time this is very much worth seeing.
- Utopia undone: This is not a film that grabbed my attention from the first frame but ultimately is a satisfying-puzzling-thought-provoking film. The film is very visual with the choice of landscapes, urban development and interior decor carrying a significant role in moving the story-line forward. The use of sound brings emphasis to the visual elements - especially the silence.
The plot is fascinating in that it works ... it is essentially a middle with neither beginning nor end. That is to say that why/how Andreas, the protagonist, is delivered to the false utopian city is never known. And at the end where Andreas leaps from a moving bus into the light, the result of that leap is never shown. This leaves the viewer a very open interpretation possibility. The bland superficiality of the city may be an indictment of comtemporary culture, of the failure of utopian dreams, of individuals satisfied with the appearance of pleasure rather than actual pleasure ...
The short film on the dvd is True Story by Stephanie J. Via. The setting is well chosen, the script believable. For my taste, however, the hammering home of the social message rather than trusting the strength of the art (film) is a serious flaw. - Quiet life in a rich and clean Norwegian town, or is it ?: In canton of Geneva this film carries a tittle "Nor..way of life". Being a transplant from Geneva to Bergen I feel lots in common with Andreas. Only two types of chocolade and quite tasteless :-), mechanically kissing couples, sex as "duty and status symbol" de-associated from any emotions, getting a bigger bathroom as good as any a reason to move in with someone, empty talks at lunch table, and yes, everybody is so nice, and all is safe. Well, at least when compared with "real life" in other places. The ways to "get real" include heavy drinking and getting hurt in excesive sports. But there is lots of children (who seem to have a world of their own) and one can always get on the plane to some other place, without being trashed to a luggage bin :-). Oh, my dear Norwegian friends, please do not get upset with me, ofcourse Norway IS a great place to live, beaten only quite recently by Iceland in human developement index :-). And nost of the scenes in this movie are from Iceland, ikke sann ? mvh, Anna
- An ultimately unsatisfying film.: A very unusual film, to say the least, but essentially unsatisfying. In spite of some well done bits of the protagonist's efforts to find meaning in the sterile, unfeeling world in which he finds himself (why? we never find out), this theme is taken to absurd extremes and loses its impact and thoughtfulness by becoming ridiculous. Some will enjoy this ridiculousness; I didn't care for it.
- Thought-provoking: Dem Brysomme Mann or The Bothersome Man tells the story of Andreas who is bussed to an orderly, Utopian city where a job and wife await him. However, Andreas feels something is lacking in his new pre-fabricated, mundane life. In a search for meaning and beauty, he attempts to escape the numbness of the perfect city with the help of Hugo, a chance acquaintance. This movie is surprisingly poignant despite a certain thematic ambiguity. Director Jens Lien never tells us why Andreas comes to the city or what the forces are behind this Orwellian world. The film is one that stays with the viewer long after the first viewing.
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