In other words,this film is a surreal ride.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

772/5000 There can be nothing more boring, than when a director begins to put plans that have no meaning. The worst thing is that it does not happen only at the beginning and end of the movie if not what happens in many moments.It is a cold movie, especially because at no time do you empathize with the protagonist, who in fact, personally I dislike. I do not understand you at any time. I also do not understand some moments of the film, nor do I know why it ends that night of partying like that, instead of taking advantage of the moment in front of it. That she can see that girl in him, is something that I will never understand.I do not like photography, if there is photography.The address is totally non-existent. He does not know where he's going or how to roll.He is a worthy apprentice to his cousin Lars

Oslo, October 31st (2011)A highly realistic, intimate view of a young man who has completed a drug abuse program and is trying to rejoin his life. It's a rough ride, sometimes boring, sometimes raw, but it's the real thing, and if you have an interest in this kind of common problem without watching a documentary, this is the movie.Though set in Oslo, there is a universal quality to all of this. Yes, the leading man, Anders, has the usual problem getting jobs. But that's just the beginning. It's about friends who want to help and friends who expect him to help them be wild. It's about old girlfriends, new girlfriends, parties where you can't drink, family that wasn't adequate, and on and on.And the temptation of real drugs, beyond drink.It's odd to realize, but I think the bottom line is that most young people live in a culture that's on the edge, on purpose and for good reason. And there is a percentage of people who can't handle that, who need to go over the edge, and will always go over the edge. Some of those people understand it early and save themselves, others never can. And life is a series of crises.This isn't a feel good movie about a man who succeeds (I'm not saying here if he succeeds or not—just that it's not some sunny happiness after a round with the devil). This is about what it might be like to be in the shoes of Anders, or anyone like him, and how almost impossible it is to rise up. And his friends and family are partly to blame, sad to admit.The final few minutes of the film are poetic—elegiac might be a better word—and the opening to the film is similarly daring and edgy. It's odd and perhaps too bad the the middle—the bulk of it—is more prosaic. It's good, it's really good, but without the poetry we are sure to sink into empathy and sadness, watching what is surely so believable it is, somewhere, all too real.

Among many movies I've seen in the last few years, this movie is the best in terms of getting into the psyche of the main character and scenario. I absolutely loved it. Some who have watched may think that it's shallow but if you have experienced, gone thru the phases he has; you just absorb it the way it is displayed. He's got all these thoughts n ideas. He's not ignorant. He's very intellectual and you just see how such an intelligent guy can get to that point. Addiction has nothing to do with intelligence. The movie makes the spectator realize that once more. Staying clean is not all that easy when you have all these stimuli around you. It's tough times. Depressed as hell, you try to adjust to the normal life. But it doesn't work all that easily. This movie is all about that. And please watch and try to internalize the end of it. Brief but effective. Everyone should this movie at least once. If possible, many times.

Anders Danielsen Lei gives a very impressive performance as a once-promising writer whose life got derailed by substance abuse. Now at 34 he's in recovery and taking a leave from rehab to interview for a job but despite the fact that he's been clean from drugs for several months Anders is depressed. Stopping by to see old friends and acquaintances he volunteers his sense of hopelessness. He tells a friend that he can't accept being another nobody stuck in a nowhere job. Particularly painful are old friends who are reluctant to accept him back. Lei who is a doctor in reality skillfully captures the spirit of a highly intelligent man who can't tolerate failure. "Oslo, August 31st" is a sensitive, melancholic mood piece that flows quietly at a pace of real-time. It's beautifully directed by Joachim Trier and photographed by Jakob Ihre. Writers Joachim Trier and Eskil Vogt have created a tragic character who perhaps like Icarus soars to acclaim only to crash and burn for reasons that may be a mystery even to him.