Customer Reviews

Troubled Water

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I don't really like movies and I don't watch them a lot. And after seeing Troubled Water I know why. The simple reason is that very few movies are as good as this one. This is definitely not one of those sad Hollywood monstrosities that aim to prevent you from having a single thought by any means possible. This film does not attempt to benumb the spectators by an endless assault of noises, colors, flashes, explosions, colorful images, etc. It actually leaves the viewers some space to think, analyze, and simply to exist. Troubled Water does not attempt to rob me of my humanity and my human agency, unlike the stupid Hollywood productions.

This is the kind of film that works through powerful acting and great directing. There are no cheap thrills in Troubled Water. No special effects, no monsters or vampires, no explosions, 3D effects, unrealistic car chases, etc. There is just life, human existence, normal people trying to figure out important stuff.

Instead of silicone-inflated cyborg-like individuals who pass for actors in Hollywood, this film has actors who actually look like real, normal people. We are so used to the assembly-line faces and bodies of Hollywood characters, that the actors in Troubled Water look refreshingly attractive. As attractive as only real human beings can be. And these actors even know how to act.

I'm not going to retell the plot of the movie here. Because great art is not about the plot. The story is never as important as the artistic means employed to transmit it. I will only say that Troubled Water is a film that makes you want to come back to it over and over.

(special thanks to Film Movement for providing me a screener!)

Troubled Water is a masterpiece of sad, vaguely depressing, film making where in the end there's no real uplifting message and not a lot of resolution and very few answers. Will it surprise you if I tell you it's a Scandinavian movie?

The movie tells the tale of Jan Thomas Hansen, recently released from prison after being convicted of the murder of a young boy. He's always maintained his innocence and blamed a cohort, of whom we see basically nothing.

Out of prison he gets a job working as an organist at a church. He's quite good and starts a shy, tentative relationship with Anna, the church priest. He also becomes quite fond of her young son, Jens and starts spending time around him...

Meanwhile, Agnes, the mother of the murdered boy, has a parallel story where we see her and her husband and two adopted daughters getting ready to move to Denmark. She's on what appears to be a school field trip to a church and while there notices a suspiciously familiar organist.

Soon all her memories of the events surrounding the death of her child come up to the front of her mind ("I can't drink hot chocolate anymore," she confesses at one point, remembering that she'd been buying hot chocolate for her son when the boy was taken). Initially she just notices the man, makes some vague platitudes about him and wants to move on, but quickly becomes obsessed, especially once she seems him hanging around a young boy...

The movie is about several things. It's about crime and punishment. It's about guilt and how it can consume you from within. It's about a lonely woman and a shy man finding each other. It's about shattered parents trying to move on.

It's also about forgiveness, and how you should forgive people who have wronged you not for their sake, but for your own, so that you can move on with your life.

It's also a movie that is, at times, quite literally soaked in symbolism. Baptism, rivers, swimming pools and all things wet play a huge role in the film (ironically as I type that, I'm being spattered with water from a leak in the roof).

Certain plot elements of the movie were predictable, but the events that followed after took some directions I didn't expect, and at no point did the film feel forced or unreal. It pulls at the heartstrings, true, but it earns those pulls and does not get them through cheap manipulation, and that's a mark of a good film.

== SHORT SUBJECT ==

This month's short subject is The Kolaborator, a jolly romp through recent Serbian/Bosnian history. It centers around Goran, a soccer player who winds up being on a Serbian death squad, traveling the countryside, helping to murder innocent civilians, including children. As he goes about his missions he eventually runs into the soccer coach and things get a little tense.

The movie is nicely filmed, though the washed out colors in the murder scenes are a bit schmaltzy. Also, there doesn't seem to be much the movie is saying other than, "Genocide! Boy, that sucks, eh?" Still, it was interesting and worth seeing.

Don't let the subtitles or the Norwegian origin scare you.
This is an excellent movie. Worth every minute and the effort.

On a flight from New York to Helsinki, Finland, the people sitting close enough to see, and even possibly the staff, might have thought I was having a personal "episode" of some kind, because while watching this film, I not only teared up but I actually cried some minutes during one of the crucial scenes.

I've had dreams about my son being kidnapped before, scarily vivid and heart pounding, as I knew I couldn't reach and rescue him in time before he was whisked away in a dark car by the perpetrators. The helpless, the scream of loss, the terrible realization someone else has your child for whatever reason, at their total control. Rather than deal with the crime itself, DeUsynlige expounds upon the emotions and long-reaching effects the event has not only on the relatives of the victim, but on the murderer as well.

As you can read in the description, its a fairly straightforward premise, and from the details anyone might imagine some of the emotions that might be presented: guilt, rage, grief and love, but the acting is so superb, the direction so subtle yet powerful, the score brilliant, that the sum total makes for an unforgettable, moving film.

Some have complained of it being disjointed, as it is not necessarily presented in sequential order, yet I found the style to be particularly effective for the storyline as any event, especially a crime, can be remembered in different ways depending on your perspective. Certainly the recently released and willing to talk parolee had more knowledge of the actual events than was ever presented in the courtroom. Having lived with the rage, grief and guilt for many years, the grieving parents have filled in pieces of the puzzle to help assuage their own agony, and to try to make some sense of a senseless crime.

We are first introduced to the young man Jan, a teen murderer now a free man in his late twenties or early thirties. After showing a brief vignette of the crime, we see that even then he was an individual too receptive to suggestion and cajoled into serious deeds. Now as a grown man he is ultimately likeable, even gentle and very much sorry for his part in the young child's death. He's given release having served his time, and obtains a position as an organ player, the instrument he's learned to play beautifully. Through his eyes we experience the simple joy of having his own apartment, riding his bicycle along the street, or the shy pleasure of the caring young minister and mother of a small boy, becoming interested in him. Then a problem presents itself, inexplicable events happen, someone gives warnings about him yet how could they know his closed past?

Tormented through the years, second guessing herself, the young mother whose child was kidnapped and killed is now middle-aged with two adopted daughters whom she loves dearly; has a protective, adoring husband, and fulfilling job, yet of course she cannot forget the loss of her son. When she sees a man she believes to be the murderer, her life and emotions are thrown into a swirl of troubled waters, just like the waters her son was drowned in, the place where the parolee's mind also frequently drifts.

The mysterious events are eventually explained as the two have crossed paths a number of times, all unknown to Jan, for the mother seeks to protect the minister's son from the fate she's convinced Jan intends for him. The climax is breathtaking and it's made known that these two are forever linked to each other by the former crime, and they cannot in any way be made whole until they face the memories together.

In Norwegian with English subtitles, don't let the need to read them put you off this film. It will flow, for the actors abilities transcend the language differences. You'll see what I mean. Trine Dyrholm, who played the grieving mother was magnificent. Winner of four awards, with five other nominations, and well deserved.

This outstanding Norwegian film had me riveted to my seat from beginning to end. I am hard pressed to find higher production values in any other movie I've seen. The acting, directing, editing, & cinematography are all superlative. And let's not forget the musical score, from delicate strains of orchestral music to an incredible duo of organ and cello. The English title of the film seems to derive from a brief organ rendition of Simon & Garfunkle's Bridge Over Trouble Waters, about a quarter way into the move, though I'm not sure if the Norwegian title, De Usynlige, translates thus. On top of all this, I found the characters to be so real, it's easy to feel for them all, to fall in love with them and yearn for their future. My only constructive criticism lies with the ending of the story, slightly muddled perhaps. Was redemption accomplished or only partially? I'm not exactly sure what the movie is telling me at the end (I welcome other reviewers' comments here). One note of caution, the subject matter deals with the abduction and death of a child, and though handled with great skill in the filmmakers' hands, it is rather brutal nonetheless. I'm adding this dvd to my collection of all time favorite movies.

"Troubled Water" (116 min,; originally released in 2008) is another recent (2010) release in the excellent and on-going series of Film Movement DVDs. This movie out of Norway brings the story of a guy recently released from prison after having done time for a child kdnapping that had ended in the child's death (but did he really commit the crime?). Now going under his middle name Thomas, he finds a position as an organist in a church, and before we know it, he falls for Anna, the pastor who has a 6 yr. old boy, Jens. THings are going well for Thomas, Anna and Jens. Then one day Thomas leaves Jens alone for a few minutes to retrieve something from the class room and when Thomas returns, Jens has disappeared... This event comes about half-way in the movie and from that moment on we see most of the movie again, from another character's perspective, and it all comes together in the last 15 min. of the movie.

I thought the movie was riveting from start to finish. If there was one aspect that I didn't quite like that much, it is that quite a few scenes play out in very poorly lit settings for some reason, making it at time hard to even see what is happening. That aside, the performances in the movie, including in particular Pål Sverre Valheim Hagen as Thomas, are outstanding. Also noteworthy is the critical role that music is given in the movie. Several scenes feature extensive and massive church organ-playing, just beautiful. As an aside, I cannot emphasize enough how highly I think of the Film Movement releases. I've now seen maybe 10 or so, and haven't had a single bad experience yet. Meanwhile "Troubled Water" is highly recommended!

We coiled mortals are well represented here. This intoxicating film jars motherhood/loss/murder/penance all together in a non violent, gorgeously elegant way. I LOVED THIS FILM. There was a lot left unstated for the viewer to ponder at the end of this lyrical, haunting tale. For once the obvious wasn't thrust down our throats. Never proselytizing but actually deeply religious. A beautiful heart rending representation of adolescence in 21st century.

One of the best films I've seen in years. Intense and touching with questions you hardly find answers for. I've seen the film twice to plunge into the depth of TROUBLED WATER. Really glad I didn't miss this convincing low budget production.

I did watch this movie on the Rotterdam International Film Festival two years ago. I had no idea what it would be about, and the first couple of minutes were at least confusing. However, the story gets a grip on you, and combined with the beautiful music it is a movie that stayed with me for a long time. That doesn't happen very often, so I can warmly recommend it to viewers who are open to an intriguing story.

This movie takes you on a small roller coaster, and the point of view changes with each twist, turn and sudden drop. The acting is so very real that you forget it might not be a docudrama. Not too wordy, not too preachy but with some powerful messages. Highly recommended.