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Movies & TV Movies & TV Reviews

Oslo, August 31st

OSLO, AUGUST 31ST (Joachim Trier). 90 minutes. Subtitled. Opens Friday (August 10). For venues and times, see Movies. Rating: NNNN


In Oslo, August 31st, a man roams the streets, checks in on old friends, meets a few new ones and visits various apartments, parks and cafés while breathing it all in.

If you knew nothing about that central character, these events would be mundane and trivial. What you do know is that the man, Anders (Anders Danielsen Lie), is a recovering junkie, so every mundane detail and trivial pursuit is anchored in both hope and dread.

Anders is on one-day leave from a rehab clinic, visiting Oslo for a job interview. He makes detours, scouring the city he grew up in while revisiting his past. What he’s searching for is an enigma, both to the audience and probably to himself. He may find a sign that he can start over or an excuse to relapse or a reason to just end it all.

Lie delivers a remarkably contained performance that keeps us hanging on Anders’s every minute gesture. Meanwhile, writer/director Joachim Trier (a distant relative of Lars) treats the man’s ordeal with an assured hand, making a commonplace story unique.

We’re intimate enough with the character to feel the tension around every corner, where even a glass of sparkling wine could prove disastrous. But we keep a safe enough distance to observe his self-defeating ways and decide for ourselves whether he stands a chance.

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