October 5, 2008
The kids in "Reprise" remind me very much of the kids in "Trainspotting". The angsty 20-somethings who revel in aggressive punk rock music are there - however, here drugs are replaced by fine literature and art. That isn't exactly a good thing, however, as I am no fan of "Trainsp...( read more)otting". I saw it as little more than aimless style over substance, with trippy substance abuse montages rather than legitimate human emotion. Here, we had a promising start with fairly riveting narration foreshadowing what is (well, what isn't) to come... and then, a half hour later, we come to realize that it's one of the many tricks the director throws at you that is completely abandoned half an hour later. This is a film that doesn't know what it is or what it wants to be - and unfortunately, all it seems like the filmmakers are doing is telling the audience "we are better than you".
Set in Oslo, Norway, "Reprise" tells the story of two aspiring writers, Erik (Espen Klouman Hoiner) and Phillip (Anders Danielsen Lie). The film opens with the two young men simultaneously mailing their novels out to publishers. Soon, a narrator kicks in and begins to tell the story of what "would" happen. Keep in mind, this isn't what "does" happen later in the film - it's simply an exploration of the possible futures of the characters. This is used many times throughout the first half of the film and it's fairly effective, although at times it can be a bit too much to handle.
What really happens is that Phillip's novel is accepted, while Erik's is not. Phillip, however, can't exactly cope with the pressure and it makes him more miserable than ever - having a severe breakdown and descending into a deep depression. As he starts to shun writing from his life, Erik's career ends up taking off - eventually getting his novel published, as well, from a publisher who was a fan of Phillip's book. Meanwhile, Phillip struggles in a relationship with Kari (Viktoria Winge), who we get the impression is not going to put up with his antics too much longer. Erik has a girlfriend as well, however he chooses to keep her away from his friends and therefore we never really get to see her. The film is about Phillip's instability and relationship with Kari, and it is paralleled in contrast to Erik's rise in success.
The problem with this film is that Erik and Phillip are not remarkably interesting people in the slightest. Both of them seem fairly superficial, and we never really get insight into what drives these people to do what they do. I never understood why Phillip, who we always see disheveled and miserable, ended up the way he did. That being said, atleast Phillip's character had some level of interest due to his relationship with Kari - Erik's character is almost insignificant and we aren't really introduced to any material we haven't seen a hundred times.
The reason the character development suffers so much is the masturbatory use of editing tricks and the timeshifting narration. The film looks visually stunning and is at all times sleek and cool... but, it completely takes away from any emotional attachment you could have with the film. For something that obviously had so much effort put into it in post production, it's surprisingly lifeless. You won't necessarily ever be bored while watching "Reprise" - you simply just won't care about any of it.
Also, because of casting these completely beautiful lead actors as characters who show little to no weaknesses intellectually or physically and at all times seem to have no problem getting people to like them, we constantly feel as though the director is sneering down at us. The indepth discussions of art, literature, and music came off as entirely too pretentious. A director like Woody Allen can involve this sort of world without making it overbearing - while in this film I felt like I was watching a few of those kids from high school who look down at you because they're into photography and Fellini films.
There's not much to connect with in a film of unlikable characters and shallow relationships. As a piece of art this is very stylish and modern, however it's so lifeless that it's completely forgettable.
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