Bent Hamer Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Odd Horten (Bard Owe) knows who he is and what he does. He's a driver for the train, and has spent so many years on the same route that he knows it instinctively; he has his work, he has his life. But in Bent Hamer's O' Horten, which played in the Un Certain Regard selection this year at Cannes (and has since been picked up for distribution by Sony Pictures Classics), Horten has to face the fact that his life, as he knows it, is changing; he's hit retirement age, and he simply has no clue what to do next.

Hamer's earlier films had a finely-tuned capacity for observation, perhaps best demonstrated in Eggs (1995) and Kitchen Stories (2003); Hamer's English-language debut, Factotum (2005), took the boozy, woozy prose of Charles Bukowski and put a little air and space in it, turning the alcohol-fueled anger of Bukowski's words which, on the page, hit like a shot of cheap whiskey and turning them into something smoother and finer with the smooth burn of regret going down. In O'Horten, Hamer's back in Norway, and still crafting careful, considered portraits of day to day life, but ones which nonetheless have a deadpan comedy to them, a careful and humane sense of the absurd.

After a somnolent week in which it appeared that IFC Films was the only US distributor making deals at Cannes, Sony Pictures Classics sprang into action and snapped up two pictures, with a third possibly on the way. According to Anne Thompson of Variety, Sony Classics has acquired North American rights to the latest film by French filmmaking brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, Lorna's Silence, as well as Norwegian director Bent Hamer's comedy/drama O'Horten, and are also in talks to pick up James Toback's documentary Tyson.

Cinematical's James Rocchi felt "in tune" with Lorna's Silence, which he says has provoked polarized reactions in Cannes; he concluded: "It's a strong film from strong filmmakers." The titular character is an Albanian woman living in Belgium who has entered into a marriage of convenience that turns out to be a complicated, life and death affair.

Hey, did you know that Cinematical's indie film content is on its own site now? If you're looking for news, reviews and interviews related to independent film, Cinematical Indie is where you'll find it. We're adding some new features to the Cinematical Indie, including a regular Indie Film Calendar with news of what's going on with indie film in your area. If you have news about screenings of indie films, indie films being shot in your town, inside scoops on casting, or anything else indie-related, send all your tips to kim(at)cinematical(dot)com and we'll get you covered!

Meantime, here's what's been going on over at Cinematical Indie lately:

• Taiwanese filmmaker Edward Yang passed away at the age of 59. Film journalists from all over wrote tributes to this filmmaker, who's work was vastly under-appreciated by American audiences. This weekend, why not rent Yang's most well-known film, Yi-yi, which won the director Best Director at Cannes in 2000. Yang never completed another feature; he was diagnosed with colon cancer shortly after winning at Cannes. Maybe now his work will finally be more well-known here in America.
• If you're looking for more DVDs to fill up your weekend movie-watching, Peter Martin (who, as you may have noticed, recently joined the team here at Cinematical Indie) has a solid roundup of the latest indie flicks coming out on DVD.
• Fans of the Matt Dillon-starrer Factotum, based on the book by Charles Bukowski, will be glad to know that director Bent Hamer has a new film in the works in his native Norway. The film, called O'Horten, is about a train engine driver named Odd Horten (played by Bård Owe), and it's likely to hit the fest circuit next year.
• Actor/environmentalist/friend-of-Al-Gore Leonardo DiCaprio has been busy promoting the film The Eleventh Hour, which he produced and also narrates. Leo showed up doing the intro for the film's trailer, which is up on the official MySpace page for the film.
• If you've wondered lately what former talk-show host Phil Donahue's been up to (and hey, who hasn't?) you'll be thrilled to your toes to know that he's directing a documentary about Iraq (there just haven't been enough of those lately, have there?) This one, titled Body of War, does take a different angle -- Donahue criticizes not just the Republicans on the war issue, but goes after the Dems, too.
• Also: New details about Young Victoria, Michael Moore takes on Wolf Blitzer and Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Once Upon a Time in Seoul promises some action, and the Edinburgh Film Fest announces its lineup.

A delightful surprise, Kitchen Stories snuck out of Norway four years ago, winning acclaim at Cannes and other festivals. The premise is not inherently funny: in a rural post-World War II community, scientific observers are stationed in the kitchens of single men to record their daily routines. Yet the dry, deadpan absurdity of the situation -- a silent scientist sitting in a high chair like a lifeguard surveying a pool of unruly children, watching a bemused bachelor puttering around his kitchen -- was nicely counterpointed by the steely grays and blues of the color palette and a keen understanding of human behavior.

Director Bent Hamer next made the English-language Factotum, starring Matt Dillon and based on a novel by Charles Bukowski, which was praised at Cinematical by both Karina Longworth and James Rocchi. For his latest feature, Hamer has returned to his homeland. The title character of O'Horten is a train engine driver who "realises that his future is a voyage without printed timetables and well-known stops. Horten has become an old-age pensioner, and the platform is no longer a safe place to be," according to the director. Veteran actor Bård Owe will portray Odd Horten.

Again, the premise is slender, but the web site of John Erik Kaada, who composed the musical score, tantalizes further: "For the first time in almost 40 years, tidy-minded Odd Horten will be late and miss his last departure. ... Horten falls into a fateful odyssey, stumbling around in red high-heeled shoes and ending up in the passenger seat of a car whose driver finds his way through the traffic wearing a blindfold." No trailer yet, but Kaada's site has two lovely sound clips. O'Horten is a good bet to pop up on the festival circuit next spring after its release in Norwegian theaters at the end of December.

Factotum, the first English-language film by Norwegian director Bent Hamer, has reportedly been acquired by IFC Films. The film, an adaptation of Charles Bukowski's second novel, stars Matt Dillon, Lili Taylor, and Marisa Tomei. Dillon plays Henry Chinaski, a loser obsessed with drinking, sex and gambling (not necessarily in that order) who gets fired from every job he has. Dillon's performance in the film has been lauded - between Factotum and Crash he is staking out a major career revival that could include an Oscar, and Factotum was being buzzed about at Outfest today, so it's not surprising to learn it's been picked up. The film opened last year at Cannes to critical acclaim and his been steadily picking up steam ever since. Karina will have a review up of Factotum by tomorrow.

[ via filmfestivalstv.com ]