The beginning of this film strongly implies a supernatural power in the form
of Vidar (Trond Espen Seim), a man who can't sleep and expects his dreams to
become reality. Throughout, we keep asking if this man is supposed to be a
celestial angel in human form. That question, as he crosses many lives,
doesn't go away.
His strange story is one of five, each involving different characters living
separate lives which may or may not intersect. In Vidar's storyline, he goes
out in search of his friend Leon (Jan Gunnar Roise), an institutionalized
kleptomaniac with serious social issues who has gone on a run after having
finally reunited with Asa (Evy Elise Kasseth Rosten -- a blond Norwegian
beauty if there ever was one), after 10 years since their childhood promise to
get married. Meeting up with her has been a Herculean task, urged on by
clairvoyant Vidar and outrageously distracted by convict brother Trygve
(Aksel Hennie).
In part, he's running for independence from the latter, who has involved him
in a bank robbery and now wants to leave the country with the money and
his younger brother's life in his criminal hands. In an ambulance, Frode and
Milla (Stig Henrik Hoff and Silje Torp Faeravaag) are overjoyed at the birth
of their first child en route to the hospital. This ambulance accidentally
hits and kills Leon.
Or does it? Is this just a dream of Vidar's? He's pretty certain that what
he dreams is foretold reality. He goes on in search of the running man
while, at the hospital, the doctor informs the new parents that the baby has
a rare heart defect that they can't treat and will die in 3 days.
At Frode, the husband's (Stig Henrik Hoff) insistence, the hospital finds an
American clinic that has done the operation but their doctor advises strongly
against it because of its experimental nature. The cost is $190,000 in
American currency, plus travel and expenses. Frode sells all his possessions
and can't quite come up with the full amount needed. After being turned down
for any kind of consideration that would make the operation on his boy
possible, an increasingly desperate Frode goes to a bank presumably to rob
it. But, before he gets a chance to, Leon's brother shows up and robs it.
This crosscurrent of storylines characterizes the way Norwegian director Erik
Poppe and screenwriter Harald Rosenlow Eeg have put together a fairly
interesting set of flashback time changes dealing with destiny and chance.
The theme of running evokes "Run
Lola Run," the sleepless angel brings up "Northfork" (Daryl Hannah as Flower Hercules)... and maybe
even Travolta's "Michael."
Even the actors spookily reminded me of others. Rosten seems like a cross
between Maria Bello and Sandra Dee; Petronella Barker, a somewhat strung out
Naomi Watts; Roise is a Jamie Bell ("Billy Elliott"); Seim suggests Steven Macht ("A Love Song for Bobby Long"),
and others. But, that's probably just one person's reaction.
In any event, there's a derivative feeling to the project while, at the same
time, enough originality to make it intriguing. Its fairly slow pace
and complex details result in a 125 minute running time but there's enough
mystery and care about the outcome to retain the attention.
~~ Jules Brenner