Director Peter Naess last movie (ABSOLUTE HANGOVER) was a riot, full of genuine laughs; a big hit at Film Festivals here. So well received, he even came all the way from Norway to the Southern Hemisphere when he was unknown. At the time, his film and his approach were pretty original also.
However, the freshness is now gone, and we have in ELLING one of the most overrated non-English language films of 2001. This boring film with its all too familiar plot even made the final cut to be an Oscar nominee as Best Foreign Language Picture!!
Why do Scandinavian directors continue to lecture us about their welfare crazed society, replete with drunks, unwed mothers, and mental cases? We've all been shown for decades and know all too well that these countries (Norwegian and Danish films in particular) are ice-cold, boring social welfare states, populated by dull people, who at their most fun and creative, are terminally alcoholic and promiscuous (the two go hand in hand as if they can't even have sex either unless they're wiped out on their butts -literally).
Enough already. ELLING is one more Scandinavian bore to be avoided. We expected more from this young Norwegian director, but he has deceived us... at least us film festival fans, who are sick of seeing the same old and tired characters and situations in Scandinavian cinema. It's a good thing other themes are being explored, such as the exploitation of Russian women as sex slaves and small Norwegian town doctor as a cross dresser.
See those "new" Scandinavian movies, and skip this tired, beaten and dead frozen horse. If you must see an "Elling," then wait until 2003. As you probably noticed upon researching this movie in this site, another ELLING awaits us next year. Take your chances on that one.
However, the freshness is now gone, and we have in ELLING one of the most overrated non-English language films of 2001. This boring film with its all too familiar plot even made the final cut to be an Oscar nominee as Best Foreign Language Picture!!
Why do Scandinavian directors continue to lecture us about their welfare crazed society, replete with drunks, unwed mothers, and mental cases? We've all been shown for decades and know all too well that these countries (Norwegian and Danish films in particular) are ice-cold, boring social welfare states, populated by dull people, who at their most fun and creative, are terminally alcoholic and promiscuous (the two go hand in hand as if they can't even have sex either unless they're wiped out on their butts -literally).
Enough already. ELLING is one more Scandinavian bore to be avoided. We expected more from this young Norwegian director, but he has deceived us... at least us film festival fans, who are sick of seeing the same old and tired characters and situations in Scandinavian cinema. It's a good thing other themes are being explored, such as the exploitation of Russian women as sex slaves and small Norwegian town doctor as a cross dresser.
See those "new" Scandinavian movies, and skip this tired, beaten and dead frozen horse. If you must see an "Elling," then wait until 2003. As you probably noticed upon researching this movie in this site, another ELLING awaits us next year. Take your chances on that one.