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“troubled water” to be remade in hollywood PHOTO COURTESY OF NORWEGIAN FILM INSTITUTE by erlend haugen Norwegian filmmaker Erik Poppe’s “Troubled Water” (De Usynlige) took home the Hamptons International Film Festival’s top Golden Starfish prize for a narrative feature along with its audience award in October 2008. “Troubled Water” is now getting a Hollywood remake by producer Basil Iwanyk, who made “Firewall” and “Clash of the Titans.” “People were incredibly touched by this movie,” Poppe said after the awards ceremony at the Regal Cinemas in East Hamptons. “They asked questions about the story, the acting, and my storytelling.” “Troubled Water” is the third film in a trilogy starting with renowned “Schpaa” and “Hawaii, Oslo.” The movie brings up existential questions regarding guilt, responsibility, betrayal, care, and love in a contemporary plot. How do you find light, joy, and purpose in life after a blow of fate Jan Thomas is released from prison after having served eight years – for what may have been an accident or murder. Being a divinely gifted organist, he gets a deputyship at a church. The priest is Anna, a single mother to whom Jan Thomas soon finds himself attracted. He decides not to tell her about his past, but then Agnes, a teacher, comes on a school visit to the church. She recognizes the organist Jan Thomas as the young boy who was convicted of the murder of her son. When Basil Iwanyk and Icelandic-born Joni Sighvatsson remake the movie, they will keep the title “Troubled Water” in the English-language version. PHOTO BY HAAKON NORDVIK 1985: The Norwegian equivalent of the Academy Awards, the Amanda award, is created. The award is presented during the annual Norwegian Film Festival in Haugesund. 1987: "The Pathfinder" ("Veiviseren") by Nils Gaup is nominated for an Oscar in the best foreign film category. He has made several films with and about indigenous Sami, including “The Kautokeino Rebellion,” the second most seen Norwegian film in 2008 6 | news of norway | spring 2009
film worth the ride by anne myklebust Usually, the old adage, “this is the first day of the rest of your life,” exudes comfort rather than despair. But in the Norwegian film “O’Horten,” aging train driver Odd Horten finds anything but comfort in contemplating his future. And he will have to face the rest of his days sooner rather than later, as he only has one last train to steer across the mountains of western Norway before retirement looms. This delightful mixture of melancholy and comedy opens in U.S. theaters in May this year. “O’Horten” is written and directed by Bent Hamer, a name which will sound familiar to many film buffs. Three years ago, Hamer directed the U.S. film “Factotum,” an adaptation of a novel by Charles Bukowski, which featured Matt Dillon and Marisa Tomei. “O’Horten,” Hamer’s fifth feature, is more mellow than the poignant “Kitchen Stories,” which has become a staple of contemporary Scandinavian filmmaking. “O’Horten” explores the familiar, yet never boring, theme of locating a stable platform in one’s existence. For Odd Horten, that platform is – literally as well as figuratively – his job. When he realizes that his future existence is one without fixed timetables or familiar destinations, the ground no longer feels so solid under his feet. As one has come to expect from Hamer, the film’s depth lies in its direction as much as in its dialogue. Hamer has taken great care to ensure that all parts of the film reflect just how central the railroad is to Horten’s life. In the opening segments, we see that even his small apartment lies in the shadow of the tracks. The film’s well-rounded production package has not gone unnoticed by U.S. critics, and was described as “aces,” by Variety’s Alissa Simon, who states that the film, “provides a warm and gently humorous divertissement that should be appreciated by niche arthouse auds worldwide.” The thought that went into the creation of the soundtrack underlines the quality of the film. John Erik Kaada, described by Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet as “Norway’s film music guru,” has done an excellent job accentuating the sparse dialogue. His music becomes a voice just as significant as those of the film's characters. As Alexis Madden states in a review for Moving Pictures: “Kaada’s score subtly influences the viewer’s mood, adding the underlying magic from which the audience can feel the film as well as observe it.” As one would suspect, creating this “underlying magic” was anything but easy. In an exclusive interview, John Erik Kaada commented on the collaborative process of creating this unique soundtrack. “The collaboration between the director and the writer varies from film to film. In some productions, we literally work side by side, while in others, one is left alone to make the music, and the director will leave most decisions to the composer. I’m not really sure which method of working I prefer. Somewhere in between would be ideal. Which was the case with O’Horten. The whole process began with me sending a series of snippets and suggestions on a couple of CDs. Then Bent would select what he liked the most, and I would work from there. This was before shooting started. Often I get ideas from reading the script, in which case I will start recording immediately,” the composer said. Considering Kaada’s success in Norway, one might not expect him to dream about working on a U.S. production in the future. As it turns out, he does. “I am often envious of composers who are able to be overtly pompous, and create music with a huge orchestra. There are not a lot of Norwegian films this would work for – “O’Horten,” would certainly not be one of them. Bent Hamer’s characters are so frail. It is difficult to find the balance between how much music and pomposity one can add. Usually, with these kinds of films, it is the simple things that work best.” PHOTO BY JOACHIM DRAGELAND ISAKSEN 1997: "The Other Side of Sunday" ("Søndagsengler") by Berit Nesheim is nominated for an Oscar in the best foreign film category, and subsequently released in movie theaters in the United States. 2002: Director Petter Næss's "Elling" is nominated for a best foreign film Oscar. The film is based on Ingvar Ambjørnsen's novel "Blood brothers" from 1996, one of four books in a series about a neurotic Elling. www.norway.org | 7
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Page 11 and 12: society & policy PHOTO BY SIRI WOLL
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Page 15 and 16: calendar PHOTO BY WWW.KNUTERIKJENSE

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