Plot
One day in the life of Anders, a young recovering drug addict, who takes a brief leave from his treatment center to interview for a job and catch up with old friends in Oslo.
Release Year: 2011
Rating: 7.7/10 (798 voted)
Director:
Joachim Trier
Stars: Anders Danielsen Lie, Hans Olav Brenner, Ingrid Olava
Storyline One day in the life of Anders, a young recovering drug addict, who takes a brief leave from his treatment center to interview for a job and catch up with old friends in Oslo.
Writers: Pierre Drieu La Rochelle, Joachim Trier
Cast: Anders Danielsen Lie
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Anders
Hans Olav Brenner
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Thomas
Ingrid Olava
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Rebecca
Anders Borchgrevink
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Øystein
Andreas Braaten
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Karsten
Malin Crépin
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Malin
Petter Width Kristiansen
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Petter
Emil Lund
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Calle
Tone Beate Mostraum
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Tove
Renate Reinsve
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Renate
Øystein Røger
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David
Kjærsti Odden Skjeldal
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Mirjam
Iselin Steiro
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Aksel Thanke
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Therapist
Petter With
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Release Date: 31 August 2011
Filming Locations: Oslo, Norway
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Did You Know?
Trivia:
The movie is very loosely based on the French book "Leu feu follet", a 1931 novel by Pierre Drieu La Rochelle.
Quotes: Thomas:
Proust is Proust.
User Review
Beautiful, true and devastating
Rating: 10/10
The most hard-hitting and resonant film I've seen in a long time, Oslo
August 31st sets itself up with serene, fuzzy home footage and tales of
blissful memories spent in the titular city of Oslo only to cut to the
bleak life of Anders, a former heroin addict on his first day of life
out of rehab. Searching for a meaning and a purpose in this new life he
finds little in his friends' bourgeois city routines, which he neither
desires nor feels he could achieve anyway, and their claims that "it'll
all get better" fail to move a mind constantly probing and analysing
the reality of his situation.
He soon undergoes an intense conversation in a park overlooking the
city with his closest friend, wherein Anders pours out his thoughts of
the time the two have spent apart, and the precision of their rapport
matched with the lead's acting make the whole scene feel horribly real.
Anders wanders the often-empty city like a ghost, sitting in a café
surrounded by the hollow dreams of others ("Plant a tree. Swim with
dolphins. Write a great novel") and dwelling on the weight of his own
existence. In two minds whether to leave the city, increasingly
desperate and always beautifully shot, we follow him through the night
until sunrise, when Anders appears to us in a sequence at his most
unpredictable.
Undeniably disturbing, yet intimate and tender, this is a film that
already feels close to my heart, one unafraid to bring up difficult
questions and brilliantly able to provoke an idea of the absurdity of
it all.
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