Reprise (2008)

hyped garbage

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Like the slim volume published by one of the two young authors who are the central figures in this coming of age tale, Reprise is thoughtful, experimental, engaging, and intellectually ambitious. It's a difficult film to watch, not only because the disjunctive editing requires the viewer to keep his mind focused, but because the depictions of personal distress are painful to see. The auteur is right to leaven the scenes with (downright funny) humor, but nobody should sit down in front of this one expecting to see a "comedy". I'd like to make a special comment about the nice distinction made between the struggles of the two protagonists, one of whom suffers from a serious mental disorder (what looks like a severe depression with manic features). While both young men are heavily affected by the prevailing Western patterns of early masculine adulthood (meaning that they can act like mean-spirited 7 year old boys toward one another and toward the young women that their big-boy hormones drive them toward), one of the fellows, Phillip, does not seem to grow from his experiences. It's not that Phillip is "crazy" all the time, but when he's apparently in a well-compensated (stable) state, his actions revolve around self-involved attempts to recreate (reprise?) and re-do past episodes that felt mortifying. When he asks his would-be girlfriend to go to Paris with him AGAIN, it's not to have a good time. Paris-with-girlfriend was the precipitating event for his first mental breakdown, which culminated in a horrific suicide attempt followed by a stay in a psychiatric hospital, and a continuing regimen of pills that certify that he's "sick". This second trip becomes an obsessive re-creation and "improvement" upon all the things that Phillip blames for his collapse into the madness of misery. Need I tell you that the City-of-Lights becomes a very dark place once again, and it isn't long before Erik has to see his friend clad in pajamas and sitting in the sad corridor of a hospital. Phillip is trapped. Erik and the other "buddies" are not, and that that gives them a chance to take another step on their own paths of development. The city of Oslo is used as a metaphor for any particular place in which we are accustomed to spending our lives. It can be that some places are more confining than others, which may be true of Oslo, but regardless of that, the path ahead for a given individual may lead right out of whatever "town" he lives in.

The Norwegian drama, "Reprise," is the first feature-length work by Danish-born director Joachim Trier - a premier effort that bodes great things for his future as a filmmaker. He is clearly alive to the possibilities of the medium, as reflected in the original, highly idiosyncratic style he brings to the film. Trier deftly employs many of the tools of the filmmaker's trade - narration, flashbacks, flash forwards, near-subliminal quick cuts to show imagined events, etc. - to convey his story. Yet, rare for a newcomer, Trier never indulges in any of these "tricks" for their own sweet sake or to call attention to his own ingenuity; they are always placed at the service of the material, never the other way around. Best friends from childhood, Erik and Phillip share the hope of one day becoming writers whose works will go beyond the merely commercial to challenge the status quo - thereby earning them the coveted status of "cult" authors. As it turns out, Phillip's novel is published, but Erik's is not, yet Phillip winds up paying a price for his success, namely an emotional breakdown that has Erik performing a near-round-the-clock suicide-prevention watch on his friend. Meanwhile, Erik continues on with his writing, experiencing success and disappointment - both professional and personal - along the way.Erik and Phillip are both extremely complex characters, and Trier provides no penny-ante analysis to make them more easily understandable for the audience. Sometimes it's hard to tell what exactly it is that is bothering the two, except that, in Philip's case at least, it might be actual mental illness that lies at the root of his problem. Like many creative types, Erik and Phillip seem incapable of not over-analyzing and over-intellectualizing every single aspect of their lives, often resulting in a chronic dissatisfaction with themselves and the world around them. As writers, they become obsessed with trying to convey every single nuance of life through language, and when they fail at that endeavor - as they inevitably do - the only viable option left for them seems to be either depression or madness. As a consequence of all this, their relationships with women don't work out - and even their own longtime friendship threatens to come apart at the seams the deeper they go into brutal self-awareness. As Erik and Phillip, Espen Klouman-Hoiner and Anders Danielsen Lie give supple, sensitive performances, as does Viktoria Winge as Phillip's on-again/off-again love interest. The screenplay is rich in texture and sophisticated in theme, while the film-making itself sparkles with bold creativity and unfettered imagination.As touching as it is thought-provoking, "Reprise" is a remarkably accomplished and assured piece of film-making - especially coming from a first timer.

Before I saw 'Reprise', I was warned by somebody who hated it that I would probably hate it as well. I am soooo glad I didn't listen to their (so called)voice of reason & went by my own gut feeling. Reprise is a tale of two school chums who are both aspiring writers who have sent manuscripts of their most recent works to a publisher,expecting "who knows what". Most of this film is a tale of modern Norwegian youth, dealing with the usual glut of existential angst that Gen Y'ers seem to deal with (partying,girlfriends,trying to deal with growing up,etc.). What I really appreciated was the fact that the film doesn't sink to the usual American realm of bad taste (endless jokes concerning farts,vomit,sexual dysfunction,boozing,doping,and who knows what else Seth Rogan can come up with). This film probably won't be of much relevance to those over the age of 40 (especially the choice of music,which tends to stick to music from the mid to late 1990's until now), but if you can get beyond that, Reprise will be a small,quiet surprise for open minded souls looking for a breath of fresh air from the glut of the usual films from the American sewer.

This film is about the lives of two young and budding contemporary writers in Norway.The style of "Reprise" is refreshing. It is simplistic but real, as it has no special effects or computer graphics. It presents the characters just like everyday characters, as we would see them in every day life that everyone can relate to.And yet, it is quite hard to understand. The story is told with a lot of flashbacks, and you can't tell they are flashbacks. In addition, there is a lot of external commentary as if it is outsiders watching the lives of the characters. Hence, I find it quite hard to follow.