Dir.
Morten Tyldum, Arild Fröhlich, Sara Johnsen, Ingebjørg Torgersen, Terje Rangnes, Martin Asphaug, Magnus Martens, Hans Petter Moland, and Thomas Robsahm, 2002, Norway, Norwegian with English subtitles Cast:
Trond Hovik, Marit Pia Jacobsen, Sven Nordin, Sverre Anker
The Cream of Norwegian cinema, comprising of nine directors and seven writers collaborated on the experimental Utopia. The film is split into eight vignettes, each based on one of Norway's political parties and interspersed by the story of Lasse (Trond Hovik). He mans a remote garage and dreams of flying the Tiger Moth biplane he has been painstakingly building using mail order parts. Always surprising, Utopia has a dreamlike quality spiked with absurd and funny moments. Characters from each story are playfully peppered across the others and with so much talent involved it is amazing how well the different sections work together.
The film begins at Lasse's garage. A petrol tanker is refilling and the driver is discussing politics with Lasse. The first story begins with a surreal sketch, a man leaves his family in their car to go skinny-dipping, only to return to find his clothes and car have gone. When he walks to Lasse's garage to use the phone, he sees his car pull up with another man in his clothes driving his family who are oblivious to the change; his wife still has her head in a style magazine and his son is feasting on a fresh ice cream. The naked man gives chase, but they drive off leaving him dumfounded. Some of the following stories are just as strange. A frenetic businesswomen has her communicator mobile phone eaten by a cow and experiences an epiphany at the farmer's dinner table. Some old walkers park up at the garage and having lamented to Lasse about their recently deceased peers, proceed to help a pretty female hiker sinking in a bog and get permanently submerged themselves. Lasse's story is no less unusual. The lady post office clerk has developed a crush on him, and when his eyesight starts to go towards the end, she flies his Tiger Moth with him as a passenger in the final triumphant and tender moment of the film.
With lots of saturated colours and slick photography, at times Utopia has the unbalanced feel of a pop promo where style overrides content with a self consciously clever look. But it never lasts for long as there is a gentle humanity pervading all the stories. It is extraordinarily original and brings a smile through dark, Chris Morris-esque comedy. Barring the clumsy acting and direction in one story where a young boy is deflowered in Lasse's car wash by the pretty till girl, the cast are excellent. There is a genuine sense of something foreign in the Norwegian sensibility that comes across and unfortunately lots of the political references are lost. But there is universal subtext as well, and the metaphors deserve repeated viewing. Although not to everyone's taste and cultural baggage aside Utopia is enjoyable and rewarding viewing.
Gavin Bush
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