Two Lives - Zwei Leben by Judith Kaufmann and Georg Maas, 2012

with Juliane Köhler (Aimée & Jaguar), Liv Ullmann (Persona), Sven Nordin, Ken Duken, Julia Bache-Wiig, Rainer Bock (War Horse), Thomas Lawincky, Klara Manzel, Vicky Krieps, Dennis Storhøi, Ursula Werner

Europe 1990, the Berlin wall has just crumbled: Katrine, raised in East Germany, but now living in Norway for the last 20 years, is a "war child"; the result of a love relationship between a Norwegian woman and a German occupation soldier during World War II. She enjoys a happy family life with her mother, her husband, daughter and granddaughter. But when a lawyer asks her and her mother to witness in a trial against the Norwegian state on behalf of the war children, she resists. Gradually, a web of concealments and secrets is unveiled, until Katrine is finally stripped of everything, and her loved ones are forced to take a stand: What carries more weight, the life they have lived together, or the lie it is based on?

This movie is brilliant, complicated, intense, and at the same time effective and beautiful, interesting, unpretentious... The characters are complex but the acting is so perfect you understand their complexity and learn to love them. The story is of course tragic, with a context that unfortunately is much too real, with the Nazism and the post-war Germany, so it is not a comedy, and intelligent script replace special effect and heavy action, so don't expect mainstream spy movie. And still, I really believe this is a movie worth watching by all audiences.

Watch trailer:

Oslo, 31. August by Joachim Trier, 2011 (NR)

with Anders Danielsen Lie, Hans Olav Brenner, Ingrid Olava

This psychological drama follows a day in the life of Anders, a recovering drug addict who travels to his old stomping grounds of Oslo for a job interview. While there, he must confront his past as well as his plans for a new life.

First and foremost, I do not speak Norwegian. It has never been a problem until now. Usually, when I watch a movie with subtitles, I can follow the dialogues and still watch what is happening in the rest of the screen. Here, the dialogues required some brain presence so if you started focusing on the subtitles, you missed the action. I was experiencing moments where the visuals were so powerful that I forgot to read the subtitles, so I have no idea what I missed. It is a very beautiful movie, with the same esthetic as "Reprise", the previous film of Joachim Trier, which I found brilliant and powerful. But in this one, the dialogues were so dense that it didn't allow to be transported fully, too intellectual and therefor too much based on what you understood instead of what you felt. It is good, the main actor is excellent, supported by amazing actors. The landscapes of the city, the outskirt, the light, everything is perfect. There are a few moment which didn't have dialogue that were probably to most achieved ones, with a long bike ride at night leading to a night club, the piano scene where he expresses all that is left of himself in two minutes of playing. Another scene that was very powerful is when he becomes the experience of others, in a cafe, with a change of perspective, listening passively, still, very much the center of the attention, with the very presence of his perspective on the story of others. Perhaps to watch again, but I definitely recommend everyone to watch "Reprise" in the meantime.
Ah, funnily, I would never think of associating "The Grey" with "Oslo, 31. August" but it definitely has an identical view on life and death, which is interesting to see in two very different movies, with two very different contexts.

Watch Trailer:



Official Website: http://www.facebook.com/Oslo31august