Human drama aplenty in Poppe’s ode to multiple storylines.
Opening with a flash forward to the inevitable crushing (or liberating) end, this is a tightly wound-up drama just waiting to lose control. With Erik Poppe’s Hawaii, Oslo we find the amalgamation of usual themes: life, love and death. Troubled souls cross paths and eventually get one step closer to reconciliation and while there’s nothing original to find in this less intricate, less detailed and less voluminous tribute to Magnolia, this popular title albeit the obvious influences is undauntedly an example of the exciting new generation of films to come from Scandinavia.
Taking place within the span of the hottest day of the year – and don’t forget we’re near the artic circle – so chaos, panic, lose of faith and lose of direction are on the agenda. Something to look for in these sorts of films is the center point – a mixture of the ying and the yang found in the human condition is spread out in several of life’s unpredictable circumstances. Most of the characters that populate the film are heavily damaged by the burdens they carry and by the messed up relationships they’ve had to endure and the collection of separate stories offers a rich and entertaining look into original, comical, life-altering events. Harald Rosenlow Eeg’s screenplay captures many life forms and beautifully lays all these emotions and all these character in a small sector of a city.
Poppe’s aestheticism is lyrically driven with a jewelry box score (which includes yet another reference to Avro Part’s haunting piece that was used in Van Sant’s Gerry), and the nocturnal world is offered in esoteric-looking mustard yellows and teal blues. The fluidity of the pacing furthers the moments of hope and despair – small morsels of the different human dramas are given the right amount of time to boil over before chaos enters into it. The close-ups and jagged framing places the viewer in the emotional mind space of the scenes, characters and details the beauty found in anguish – cinematographer Ulf Brantas won’t be unfamiliar for those who’ve had the chance to explore the work of Lukas Moodysson.
Poppe’s use of kaleidoscope intertitles remind of Anderson’s color bar distortions in Punch-Drunk Love, they also allow for pit-stops in a film filled with such vibrancy. Hawaii, Oslo is perhaps a nice diversion to what Norwegian audiences might be accustomed to with their national cinema, while it may take a little more on a plate to satisfy international audiences there is a fountain of quality films coming from this colder sector of the world that are worth discovering.
Montreal World Film Festival 2005.