ben-mcpherson
Although little appears to happen in this film, it is in fact a very well controlled piece about a postman who has opted out of engaging with the world. He accidentally saves the life of a suicidal woman, and through committing this unintentional good act becomes a better person - entirely against his will.The performances are flawless, and the direction unobtrusive, giving the illusion of effortlessness that is in fact very hard to achieve. Despite being a film of great moral complexity, Junk Mail wears its serious purpose very lightly, and is in fact very funny indeed.Certainly one of the best films to come out of Scandinavia in recent years, and one which shows a side of Oslo few outsiders ever witness.
raymond-15
This film depicts Oslo as a rather run-down city which, as far as I can remember, it is not; and as for the Norwegian Postal Service ...well that seems to be struggling along if we can judge by the unreliable antics of Roy (Robert Skjaerstad), one of the young postmen. He not only opens and reads private mail, but also lets himself into an apartment when he finds a key left in a mail-box. His exploration of the rooms leaves little time for delivering letters so he dumps the contents of his bag in a railway tunnel. The irony of the situation is that he is awarded a gold watch for bravery in attendance to his duties after being badly beaten up in the streets. The originality of the story is completely charming as it blends romance, suspense and comedy in which Roy seems to get involved at every turn. One scene I particularly like is the one in which a locomotive almost runs him down in the tunnel and scatters his letters high and wide like a flurry of snowflakes. It's just one of many quaint scenes. In another scene he is on the point of being gunned down in his own grungey apartment when nearby jackhammers reverberate throughout the whole building giving him the opportunity to make his get-away. There is a suspenseful moment when he slips an iron bar through the doorhandles of a public toilet imprisoning a frantic gunman. Unfortunately for Roy (always a loser it seems) his inscribed wrist watch falls off in his struggle and so the gunman is eventually able to trace his whereabouts. The film is short and sweet, well worth watching. It has a lot of originality in the script and the acting is first class. The film suggests we should look under our beds before retiring . One never knows who may be hiding there...particularly in Oslo.
Mathias-4
I can't agree with the wholly negative comments posted by some - I thought this was a nicely dark little film, with enough strange characters to keep you interested. It's no masterpiece, granted, but it does have enough moments of humour and pathos to carry it off. It doesn't attempt anything too ambitious, and at 78 mins, is short and sweet.
1001
Junk Mail is a Norweigan movie, and it is as black a comedy as I've seen. But the makers of the movie have stumbled onto a comedic truth that never fails: take an aberrant character trait, and take it to the absolute limit. The lead character is a mailman of monstrously incompetent proportions, a creepy, irredemiably snoopy individual who can't even get mugged right; he would gladly have handed over his mailbag, but he couldn't get it off his shoulder. In the process of sneaking around a deaf girl's apartment whom he fancies, he saves her life after she tries to commit suicide. For this guy, this uncharacteristically unselfish act sets off a disastrous chain of events. This weird movie will NOT work for you if you don't think it's funny. And this movie will only be funny for you to the degree that you're cynical and capricious in your affections. People of good heart, stay away.
AD
