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Nominate-best-2010

2009: The year in movies

By PETER KEOUGH  |  December 28, 2009

  

4. O'Horten
Norwegian director Bent Hamer's shaggy-dog story takes place in an Aki Kaurismäki–like world of deadpan anarchy and shit-faced absurdity. Odd Horten (a terrific Bård Owe), retired railroad engineer, finds his life going off the rails. In small ways, at first — little non-sequiturs like the interlude involving an ice storm, a valise, and a giant salmon. Odd responds with game bewilderment until he bumps into Dr. Sissner (Espen Skjønberg), a retired diplomat and dedicated lush who teaches him the art of driving blind. Hamer in his direction observes the exact and skewed detail in the oppressive but chimerical Norwegian bleakness — as Odd learns, it's when the stuff of ordinary life is about to be lost that its true beauty is revealed.

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Related: Review: The Road, Review: Brothers, Review: Crazy Heart, More more >
  Topics: Features , Celebrity News, Entertainment, John Hillcoat,  More more >
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ARTICLES BY PETER KEOUGH
Share this entry with Delicious
  •   REVIEW: EDGE OF DARKNESS  |  February 02, 2010
    A new genre is emerging in which aging A-list actors play fathers off on a rampage to rescue their daughters or avenge their deaths.
  •   REVIEW: FROZEN  |  February 03, 2010
    A storm is coming, the girl has to pee, and then things get much worse.
  •   KAREN SCHMEER: 1970-2010  |  February 02, 2010
    Karen Schmeer, the brilliant local film editor whose work on Errol Morris's documentary The Fog of War helped win it the Best Documentary Oscar in 2004, died January 29 in a tragic accident, struck by a getaway car as she was crossing a street in Manhattan. She would have turned 40 on February 20.
  •   IS THERE 'HOPE' IN HOLLYWOOD?  |  January 29, 2010
    Buoyed by President Barack Obama's campaign slogan, many had hopes for change after his election.
  •   REVIEW: WAITING FOR ARMAGEDDON  |  January 27, 2010
    Much scarier than 2012 is this documentary about the death grip that fundamentalist religious groups have on American politics.

 See all articles by: PETER KEOUGH

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