tmdaines
Oslo, 31. august (2011 - Joachim Trier) ****½Melancholic drama about a recovering heroin addict on day release from a rehab centre. He appears to be making progress in his recovery and seemingly wants to move on with his life. He spends the day visiting old friends, attending a job interview and traipsing around the city, although there is continual sense of a relapse around every corner.The film is an enthralling and moving character study about an individual beginning the first day of his new life or a final one of his current existence. Apparently it is a loose adaptation of Le feu follet by Pierre Drieu La Rochelle, but I am not overly familiar with the book aside from knowing of Malle's adaptation.
Jim
Not sure why there is so much praise for the film. It's an interesting insightful look at the social aspects of addition. However, it lacks the drama or heart of 'Requiem for a Dream'.The protagonist is a weak young man. Makes a pathetic attempt at suicide the day before his job interview. On his day of freedom, he drops in on old friends and is met by hostility and suspicion. Not surprisingly, he messes up his job interview.He wanders around the city alone. Eavesdropping on other people talking about their lives. He befriends a girl and leaves her. The film ends predictably.IMO, the film does hit a bulls eye by focusing on the social nature of addiction. That lonely lost people are vulnerable. On the road back, loneliness is once again a major issue.
Armand
bitter, cold, gray, powerful. pictures of disillusion. search of yourself in a strange world. desire of new beginning. close doors. out sense meetings. pain and drops of hope. the life has unique sense. the past can not be present or future. the force source of story is its universal value. Anders may be everybody. his trip to a little sense of existence or only for a realistic form of consolation is part of each man or woman. maybe, not so painful. he can be one of Dostoievsky characters. or only a Tchekov page silhouette. but he is more. he is a hero of our time. a kind of Sisif. or only his remains. few beautiful images. a magnificent performance of Anders Danielsen Lie. and a town as skin of fall. nothing else. only a room, a piano, a lake and last day of summer - perfect scene for last step.
georgep53
Anders Danielsen Lei gives a very impressive performance as a once-promising writer whose life got derailed by substance abuse. Now at 34 he's in recovery and taking a leave from rehab to interview for a job but despite the fact that he's been clean from drugs for several months Anders is depressed. Stopping by to see old friends and acquaintances he volunteers his sense of hopelessness. He tells a friend that he can't accept being another nobody stuck in a nowhere job. Particularly painful are old friends who are reluctant to accept him back. Lei who is a doctor in reality skillfully captures the spirit of a highly intelligent man who can't tolerate failure. "Oslo, August 31st" is a sensitive, melancholic mood piece that flows quietly at a pace of real-time. It's beautifully directed by Joachim Trier and photographed by Jakob Ihre. Writers Joachim Trier and Eskil Vogt have created a tragic character who perhaps like Icarus soars to acclaim only to crash and burn for reasons that may be a mystery even to him.
AD
