Absolutely Fantastic

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Almost every Nordic movie has a very special feature - even if the beginning seems slow and the story is unfolding in short steps, the viewer is literally sucked into it and eventually feels like the time was well spent. This is also a case of 90 Minutes.The movie takes us into distinct lives of 3 very different people. Things do not seem optimistic for any of them from the beginning and they're not going to change much. Even though we don't learn everything - there are many "whys" unanswered - we learn just enough to understand why things end how they end.As mentioned, the beginning of the movie is as slow as can be, which lets the viewer think about the whole story more. Performances are simply stunning - you can read the emotion from the actor's face. Aksel Hennie is a big talent and seem to fit in any role. Together with great camera (which doesn't always show everything similarly as the story doesn't tell everything) makes 90 Minutes well worth spending the 90 minutes to watch it.

What a thoroughly depressing way to spend ninety minutes of your life. It all begins with a sixty something year old man on the phone ending his newspaper subscription. This is part of the three unrelated stories. The second one involves a guy sitting in a kitchen while conversing with a woman and their children. The tension is palpable, as his ex-wife speaks on the phone with her current man. Number three is a drug addict in biker shirts behaving very strangely as he watches television. He walks into a bedroom and mounts a tied up woman for a quick round of unwanted intercourse. Oh what fun those Norwegians are. He later unties the woman so that she can breast feed their screaming infant. I have no idea what the hell the point is to the three unconnected plots is supposed to be, other than that life is a great struggle and that we live in a world where sudden deadly violence may occur. The acting is fine overall, but I cannot recommend Ninety Minutes for any reason at all.

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!