This one was from Norway, and gave viewers one night in the lives of a dysfunctional support group for handicapped people. The therapist was a kook intent on using her group to write a book, one woman was a quadriplegic with a healthy husband who's tired of being tied to her, one man had a stroke and was in a wheelchair, and so on.
This group of people arrives in a van at the home of Geirr, a recently-paralyzed man who's going through an angry stage and having trouble with his marriage. The therapist tries to convince him to join the group, and things go to hell from there.
Although the material sounds heavy (and it was, at times) it was a pretty honest and comedic look at the bitterness and resentment disabled people can have. At the same time, it managed plenty of honest laughs thanks to the dark attitudes of the characters and unflinching looks at the piss-poor way life can be sometimes.
There were a few genuinely tense moments, and the range of emotions on the screen were absolutely relatable to anyone who's been at a low point in their lives. The film also took some pretty bold choices with regard to character actions physically, putting on film the things that people often wish they'd do, but usually don't. (One character gets pushed out a window, for example... it was exactly what I wanted to see, and I was surprised that the director actually went there.)
Overall I enjoyed the film greatly, and I was quite glad we selected this one to start off our personal SIFF series. For more info on the film, go HERE.
Anyway, it was a total thumbs up, so it's... Recommended.
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