... to watch a movie in a language that you can only vaguely understand because you can vaguely understand a very similar language? Well, I did.
The movie was called Elling. And at first glance, it looked like one of those generic run-of-the-mill romantic comedies that include a lot of crude humour and no real witticism. But to call this movie a comedy is like calling a diamond hard. It goes so far beyond that.
It's about two men, recently released from an institution, who are told to go out into the world and prove that they can function as normal human beings. One is Elling, a quiet, paranoid man who lived with his mother until she died, when he was pulled from a closet by the police. The other is Kjell Bjarne, utterly obsessed with women and sex, yet somehow still a virgin. The odd pair, however, get along well and, with the aid of their social worker, Frank Asli, learn to do tasks many of us take for granted. How to use a telephone. How to go grocery shopping. How to use a public restroom.
When they meet Reidun, though, a pregnant woman with no father for the baby, things turn a bit odd, and Elling finds a hidden love of poetry. Whether for better or for worse, the two are different men with underling similarities that drive them to situations which are often hilarious, and almost always completely relatable.
Just a side note, though, if you're adverse to any sexual content, don't watch this movie.
It really is a wonderful movie. It's odd, to hear Norwegian throughout, but it really is very, very good. So rent it! Or buy it. Or the books, by Ingvar Ambjørnsen. And, by the way, the language I sort-of know is Swedish, a close relative of Norwegian. Very close relative.
The movie was called Elling. And at first glance, it looked like one of those generic run-of-the-mill romantic comedies that include a lot of crude humour and no real witticism. But to call this movie a comedy is like calling a diamond hard. It goes so far beyond that.
It's about two men, recently released from an institution, who are told to go out into the world and prove that they can function as normal human beings. One is Elling, a quiet, paranoid man who lived with his mother until she died, when he was pulled from a closet by the police. The other is Kjell Bjarne, utterly obsessed with women and sex, yet somehow still a virgin. The odd pair, however, get along well and, with the aid of their social worker, Frank Asli, learn to do tasks many of us take for granted. How to use a telephone. How to go grocery shopping. How to use a public restroom.
When they meet Reidun, though, a pregnant woman with no father for the baby, things turn a bit odd, and Elling finds a hidden love of poetry. Whether for better or for worse, the two are different men with underling similarities that drive them to situations which are often hilarious, and almost always completely relatable.
Just a side note, though, if you're adverse to any sexual content, don't watch this movie.
It really is a wonderful movie. It's odd, to hear Norwegian throughout, but it really is very, very good. So rent it! Or buy it. Or the books, by Ingvar Ambjørnsen. And, by the way, the language I sort-of know is Swedish, a close relative of Norwegian. Very close relative.
