“Reprise” A Smart Indie Film

Reprise
Miramax/ Red Envelope Entertainment
Starring Espen Klouman Høiner, Andres Danielsen Lie, and Viktoria Winge
Directed by Joachim Trier
Rated R for Language, Sexuality, and Brief Nudity
107 minutes
Available Now

The Cast of \"Reprise\"

SUB-TITLE ALERT: The following is a foreign film. Those who do not wish to read while they watch a movie have been warned.

Our lives are not our own. They belong to those around us. Those we affect with our decisions, choices, and actions. Each individual follows their own unique path when it comes to how they live their life. But it is how that life intersects with the lives and choices of others that make humanity interesting. Reprise, Official Selection of Sundance Film Festival, offers a glimpse into these themes, while at the same time creating a vivid and engaging piece of cinema.

Phillip and Erik are best friends who both have the same dream: to become novelists. One succeeds, while the other fails, and the film explores how each of these characters react to their given situation.

Through flashbacks and with the assistance of the omniscient narrator who can go into each character’s backstory and innermost thoughts, the film takes on a multi-level linear structure. While there is a straightforward story being told, there are times when tangents are explored, only to be followed-up with later in the film.

Reprise explores the theme of coincidence versus fate. Do events in our lives happen because they just happen, or do they happen because they’re supposed to happen? As the film progresses, we see how coincidence and fate are likely possibilities in the ever-complex world that we live in.

Reprise is a coming-of-age drama about twenty-somethings dealing with the trials and tribulations that come with love, sex, success, and mental instability. It explores the layers of influence that exist in a person’s life. What inspires, motivates, or moves an individual to act or not act.

It is a foreign film. Does that mean it sucks? No. It just means that you have to have the sub-titles on to understand what’s being said. Unless, of course, you’re Norwegian, then you’ll have no problems.

There are several featurettes included on the DVD. All are sub-titled. Just so you know.

Reprise gets an A.

*Watch for Phillip’s girlfriend, Kari, the Norwegian answer to Katie Holmes.

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