Reprise is a great date movie. It has a simple story, it's not too girly and it's just about an hour and a half. At times the subtitles don't match moving lips, in fact sometimes the dialogue doesn't match the scene at all, but this is one of the films most rewarding and cinematic attributes. Some scenes are so perfectly put together that they stand on their own as 'mini' films, a collection of moments that are romanticized on screen.
This is a story about middle class. Every critics has mentioned this, it's a major element in Reprise; the two title characters, Philip (Anders Danielsen Lie) and Erik ( a dreamy Espen Klouman-Hoiner) don't have much to worry about, creating drama out of thin air, something only a rich kid can do. It follows the two through their early twenties as they make grand attempts at becoming authors. Philip, whose book is immediately published, struggles with the concept of talent while simultaneously falling in love for the first time and the effects are intense, but all of that happens in flash back. By the time the movie starts he is already recovering from this stroke of genius. By all accounts Philip should be the more interesting character, but Erik outshines him with his awkward realism. His interaction with friends and sweethearts are confused (for him, not us) and the situations he finds himself in are hopelessly and cinematically romantic. The director Joachim Trier breaks this up by giving Philip the love interest, a touching interaction between him and Kari (Viktoria Winge) and one of the better ones I've seen on screen lately. As I said, this movie is dripping with romanticism in the same way The Squid and the Whale somehow made divorce seem like art.
I had been waiting to see this movie for a long time, and although I was pleased, I was expecting something a little more stripped down, honest. Reprise is 'honest' in it's approach to art, story telling, character, creation, but it is so stylized that the simplicity of it gets shoved aside too often. At a time when studios are reforming the idea of 'Independent Cinema', I wish that Reprise was more about two film lovers, filming a story, than impressing us with their ability to recreate Truffaut, Jeunet, and Goddard. Maybe because Joachim Trier is distantly related to Lars Von Trier he decided to run as far away from avant-garde as possible. It would be nice if he looked back someday soon.
Reprise
This is a story about middle class. Every critics has mentioned this, it's a major element in Reprise; the two title characters, Philip (Anders Danielsen Lie) and Erik ( a dreamy Espen Klouman-Hoiner) don't have much to worry about, creating drama out of thin air, something only a rich kid can do. It follows the two through their early twenties as they make grand attempts at becoming authors. Philip, whose book is immediately published, struggles with the concept of talent while simultaneously falling in love for the first time and the effects are intense, but all of that happens in flash back. By the time the movie starts he is already recovering from this stroke of genius. By all accounts Philip should be the more interesting character, but Erik outshines him with his awkward realism. His interaction with friends and sweethearts are confused (for him, not us) and the situations he finds himself in are hopelessly and cinematically romantic. The director Joachim Trier breaks this up by giving Philip the love interest, a touching interaction between him and Kari (Viktoria Winge) and one of the better ones I've seen on screen lately. As I said, this movie is dripping with romanticism in the same way The Squid and the Whale somehow made divorce seem like art.
I had been waiting to see this movie for a long time, and although I was pleased, I was expecting something a little more stripped down, honest. Reprise is 'honest' in it's approach to art, story telling, character, creation, but it is so stylized that the simplicity of it gets shoved aside too often. At a time when studios are reforming the idea of 'Independent Cinema', I wish that Reprise was more about two film lovers, filming a story, than impressing us with their ability to recreate Truffaut, Jeunet, and Goddard. Maybe because Joachim Trier is distantly related to Lars Von Trier he decided to run as far away from avant-garde as possible. It would be nice if he looked back someday soon.
Reprise
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