Reviewed by Jason Goodyer
Stars Baard Owe, Espen Skjønberg, Ghita Nørby, Henny Moan, Bjørn Floberg,
Kai Remlow, Per Jansen, Bjarte Hjelmeland, Tone Stern Bergersen, Peter Bredal | Written by Bent Hamer
UK certification 12 | UK RRP £15.99 | DVD Region 2 | Runtime 86 minutes | Directed by Bent Hamer
As still and quiet as its curious chief character, writer/director Hamer's O'Horten is a downbeat absurdist riff on the sorrow of ageing that is at once bitterly humourous and oddly poignant.
After 40 years of serenely driving trains through the snowy hinterlands between Oslo and Bergen, Odd Horten (Owe) has reached retirement age. In lieu of the traditional gold watch he is given a "silver locomotive" and sent on his way by coworkers who make loud "choo-choo" noises and move their arms like the crankshafts of a steam train.
With little to fill his time other than trips to the nursing home to visit his catatonic mother he finds himself at a crossroads looking to both his past and future with a mix of sadness and wistful confusion. He is finally shaken from his torpor when forced to spend the night in a young boy's bedroom after an attempt to enter a colleague's top floor apartment by climbing the outside scaffolding goes comically awry.
The incident sets in motion a chain of events that sends the former train driver on a colourful peregrination through the backwaters of Oslo. Along the way he is cavity searched by an airport security guard, swims with a pair of skinny dipping lesbians and befriends an eccentric pensioner who claims to be able to drive with his eyes closed. Throughout it all Horten plays the role of the bemused onlooker somehow existing only in the fringes of his own life until he finally summons up the courage to take the metaphorical leap of faith he has waited all of his life to make.
All the quirkiness and whimsy could soon become irksome but things are kept on the right side of kooky thanks to some impressive wintry visuals, a lush emotive score and Hamer's tight, economical scripting. The film's ultimate success, however, hangs on the central performance of Owe. His natural warmth and sad woebegone eyes emit a strong emotional pull that renders the whole enterprise touching and believable despite the surreal tinge just visible around the film's edges.
EXTRAS None