Review of Reprise (2006) by Walter M — 26 May 2008

[font=Century Gothic]"Reprise" starts at a mailbox where Phillip(Anders Danielsen Lie) and Erik(Espen Klouman-Hoiner), lifelong pals, are about to mail their completed manuscripts to publishers. They imagine that both their novels will be accepted, become modest successes, create controversy before collaborating on a novel together.(Considering these fantasies do not include either movie deals or supermodels, they are rather modest.) In reality, Phillip's is accepted while Erik's is rejected. But several months later, Phillip is recovering from a nervous breakdown and is not allowed access to his girlfriend, Kari(Viktoria Winge), because it is assumed that his obsessive love for her drove him over the edge...[/font].

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[font=Century Gothic]"Reprise" is an intriguing movie that tries to utilize a complex structure to mask some of its flaws,(Think "Run Lola Run" and "Last Year at Marienbad" mostly.) especially in how it confuses youth and immaturity in attempting to depict the lives of two writers. By its nature, writing is a solitary art and also one that earns very little money(I forget the exact numbers but they were not pretty.) which are two things that society usually frowns upon. There is nothing wrong with that when you are young and able to fully test your talent. But in this case, presumably because they are young, the writers spend their valuable time hanging out with a maladjusted and sexist group of men, following their lead, instead of leading their lives on their own terms.(Even the movie is not immune, since one promising female character is little more than a literary groupie.) In the end, the movie narrowly defines a decent job and a relationship as indicators for being a mature adult but they are not absolutely necessary, even though being in love is nice. [/font].