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Overrated

A different way of telling a story

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

This movie is comprised of three different stories, that only connect with each other on a thematic level. The stories are all very contains (both in place and time), and there's not many characters in each of them. All of this works quite well for the film's attempt at exploring something from different angles: violence in the home. Most of the 3 stories is spent on establishing the relationships, and it works kind of for all of them. But when the movie ends, I was still in a position where I could not quite make sense of the climaxes to each story. While we've been partially explained the motivations between how the stories end, there's still a leap from what we see to what happens in some of them. That leap can be filled with a general "mental disorder", but I don't think the director aimed for it to be that simple.That is my one and only objection with the film, as I really enjoyed the rest of it. The stories were very distinct, the characters unique, and the individual conflicts engaging. The movie has gotten some attention for its violence, which is both brutal and realistic (especially in how it's shot). I'm not sure how the actors made it seem so real, and I hope that they weren't genuinely attacking each other for the shots. Either way it worked really well.

So I set out to watch a film that I had believed would be promising. I was completely wrong. This is one of those typical, gloomy and slightly tinted gray/blue, depressing Norwegian films that just doesn't live up to anything special whatsoever. The directing was out of tune and quite obnoxious, with poor music and typical settings that we have all seen far too many times in Norwegian films. What happened to producing films with an entertainment-factor? If you want to see something that leaves you down and depressed when you're finished, then you have it here. This is not a popcorn movie. I see this is a script that was quickly compiled, and in many respects an attempt to provoke and be controversial instead of being inventive and unique. In the end this is not worth a person's time or money.

Norwegian screenwriter and director Eva Sørhaug's second feature film which she wrote, is inspired by and article series in the Norwegian tabloid newspaper VG from 2007 about domestic partnership crimes where men were the offenders and women the victims. It premiered in the Vanguard section at the 37th Toronto International Film Festival in 2012 and is a Norwegian production which was shot on location in Oslo, Norway and produced by Norwegian film editor and producer Håkon Øverås. It tells the story about an established though troubled middle-aged couple, a feuding ex-couple with two adolescent daughters and an abusive relationship between a couple who recently became parents. Finely and precisely directed by Norwegian filmmaker Eva Sørhaug, this fictional and finely paced character piece which is narrated from multiple viewpoints though mostly from the three male protagonists point of view, draws an acute, unsettling and unsentimental portrayal of 90 minutes of a day in the lives of three men and three women. While notable for its bleak and naturalistic interior milieu depiction, fine production design by Norwegian production designer Nina-Bjerch Andresen, cinematography by Danish cinematographer Harald Gunnar Paalgard and use of sound, this narrative-driven psychological drama which in a way seems like three short feature films merged into one, contains a prominent and poignant score by Norwegian composer Henrik Skram which emphasizes the ominous atmosphere.This intentionally provocative, kind of Greek tragedy and visceral urban chamber-piece about a dark theme that has rarely been examined in Norwegian cinema, is impelled and reinforced by its cogent narrative structure, interrelating stories, tormented characters, the efficiently understated acting performance by Norwegian actor Bjørn Floberg where so much is expressed through his face, the mostly physical acting performance by actor and director Aksel Hennie in a commendable against type role and the fine acting performances by actor Mads Ousdal, actress Pia Tjelta and actress Kaia Varjord in her debut feature film role. A throughout tense thriller which is one of the most distinct expressions from a female Norwegian filmmaker and most rigorous and minimalistic Norwegian films in recent years.

We get no explanations when we follow three different ordinary situations which seem like ordinary and common, but we're entering the last minutes of three mens lives. We must use our own imaginations, but we understand there's a reason behind the three mens reactions, planned or not. We just don't now what lies behind. The following is anyway the same - despair.This is definitely not for everyone. Just like the men, this film is detached. Sometimes slow, other times violent, both in pictures as well as other times in you own imagination. Nothing to watch for a troubled mind, nor for those needing the answers. Still this film has got a lot of attention for all thisWe meet three men which have lost not only the meaning of life. They have lost themselves. Maybe they hate themselves for this. We really don't get to know, but they are kind of detached. Just like we feel when we hear about these tragedies after they have happened.Eva Sørhaugs second feature after Cold Lunch (Lønsj) is a difficult film to comprehend. Still we've read and heard about it in the news. the tragedies which we all find impossible to understand and meaningless. I guess this is what Sørhaug here tries to makes us think about.I enjoyed Cold lunch very much, and obviously more than most. I didn't feel like it was forced. 90 minutes is perhaps a step forward, but it's slow. My problem with it is not the acting, which is very good. But somehow I'm not really able to really feel for them all. Maybe we're not supposed to. Still there are scenes difficult to watch, but I'm not sure if it touches my heart.One of the three stories does, though. A family quarreling over their kids. Mads Ousdal is doing the best job here. Still they are all men. There are not many tears shed. We might see them in a corner of their eyes, but they never really surface.I think this makes the film difficult to like. But then again, we not supposed to, are we? I've been swaggering between a 6 or a 7, but the pace of the end, and the mark this leaves upon the viewer, make me doubt myself on to a 7 out of 10.I started off liking the premise, and also the sections with crowds moving in the city street, but the last time the crowds came back, I found it strangely pointless. Sørhaug is still a young filmmaker, but next time I'd like more of a story behind. Im afraid I'm not sure if this is a step in the right direction. Once again; It's a difficult film to like, still it's strong stuff!