North

2009 "An anti-depressive off-road movie"
6.7| 1h18m| en
Details

Following a nervous breakdown, ski athlete Jomar has isolated himself in a lonely existence as the guard of a ski park. When he learns that he might be the father of a child way up north, he sets on a strange and poetic journey through Norway on a snowmobile, with 5 liters of alcohol as sole provisions. On this trip through amazing arctic landscapes, Jomar seems to do everything in his power to avoid reaching his destination. He meets other tender and confused souls, who will all contribute to push Jomar further along his reluctant journey towards the brighter side of life.

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Reviews

Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic
Matrixiole Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.
Lidia Draper Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.
Cristal The movie really just wants to entertain people.
Thistle-3 North is a drama out of Norway, and from the looks of it, a pretty desolate part of the country. Jomar is a 30 year old recovering from some traumatic experience. He used to ski, now he can barely get off the couch to do his job, which is not very taxing. His woman left him, after trying to be patient and help him get his act together for some time. Jomar finds out he has a son with her, who is now four. That and another happenstance spur him to head North to find Linnea and meet this kid. Jomar is snowmobiling through back country. When he finds a house or fishing hut or tent, he stops and has various encounters with the people. It makes me concerned for my Norwegian heritage that Jomar and most of the people he meets seem to be completely nuts. He also ends up setting stuff on fire, on occasion. It's a disturbing, yet interesting, road trip. The audience at my screening seemed to find a lot of it hilarious, while I was busy being concerned. I give North a 7 out of 10.
fistkov I felt that this film had a problem with the lack of story.Somehow the film starts brilliantly and there is a brilliant scene with a teenager boy who has, at the least to say, a lot of problems.Those were the brilliant parts of the film. I thought after the first 15 minutes, that this is going to be a masterpiece, but then it just dies. The plot vanishes and somehow the ending doesn't give enough to justify the lack of the plot.The main actor does a fantastic job and there is a lot of good in the cinematography, although I sometimes felt that this was an advertisement of Norway. There were so many landscape shots that you could easily get bored with them.The music choice was also a little bit odd. It sounded like a country-tune coming straight from Texas. Do people like country music in Norway? Even with it's problems, it is a nice film to watch as an voice from Norway.
gregking4 NORTH is a wonderfully droll, delightfully surprising, unexpectedly funny and offbeat road movie from Norway of all places. Jomar has been traumatized by recent events from his past and has sunk into a quagmire of apathy and indifference. But one day he gets out of bed determined to change his life. He heads out across country to visit his child, travelling some 900 miles by snowmobile and, when that breaks down, skis. Along the way he is literally burning his past behind him. The people he meets along the way also help him reassess his life and move on. Making his debut feature, Rune Denstad Langlo's direction is suitably low key and he delivers a droll and visually stunning movie that finds humanity in the loneliness of the long distance traveller. There is a winning performance from Anders Baasmo Christiansen, and the largely non-professional supporting cast adds to the film's eccentric nature. Philip Ogaard's rich widescreen cinematography captures the superb wintry, snow-covered landscapes, and Ola Kvernberg's beautiful score adds to the film's immense pleasures. A real winner!
OJT This film got highly praised at the Berlin festival before it's cinema release in Norway, winning two of the main prizes. It also became a huge hit at the festival, with tickets going on the black market.Well, the film isn't a blockbuster. It's a nice, though tragic, but warm story about 30 year old Jomar, not particularly successful in his life. Actually his life stinks, and he has problems. And he knows it. Lying to his shrink, living unhealthy, and not caring about anything. In fact so uncaring, that he finds himself burning down the ski center where he works, almost forcing him to look somewhere else for the meaning of his life.So Jomar goes off on a 900 kilometers trip up North to find what is supposed to be his four year old son, of which he didn't know about, before slapping his best friend who'd run off with his girlfriend some time ago.On this trip he meets all kinds of lonely people, all having some kinds of wisdom to offer. And Jomar? Does he change their lives? Maybe he does...This story by Norwegian master-writer Erlend Loe, gives a great feeling of both great winter-nature, and human understanding. It'll be seen upon as exotic by most foreigners, and the film has some scenes you'll never forget. This film is another example of how great Norwegian storytelling on film has become. Great acting, also from the amateurs. No fake Hollywood stuff here. Pure Nordic realistic storytelling with a hint of humor. If you liked the films of Bent Hamer and Coen-brothers, you also like this. The only thing dragging down is the film being too short. We'd actually like Jomars trip to be longer. And that's a sign of a great road move. Or rather, a great off-road movie, since the film is more going on off-road, than on road. I still think I'll put it in the genre of road-movies.Another spot on Norwegian film! What a gem!