19/03/2010

No less than seven new films are opening today in Norway, including two domestic titles. After its successful launch at the last Berlinale in official competition, Hans Petter Moland’s A Somewhat Gentle Man [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Hans Petter Moland
film profile] is being released on 65 local screens (including 25 digital) by Nordisk Film.

First-time director Knut Møller-Lien’s Sebastian’s World, a youth action thriller, is the second Norwegian film out this week.

Carried by its all-star Scandinavian cast, Coen-esque humour and excellent post-Berlin word of mouth, A Somewhat Gentle Man should score easily with local audiences. However, the gangster comedy will have to fight off strong competition from other new openers, including multiple award-winning French film A Prophet [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jacques Audiard
interview: Jacques Audiard and Tahar R…
film profile] (Walt Disney Studios) by Jacques Audiard.

Another Nordic comedy, Josef Fares’ Balls [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (distributed by Sandrew Metronome), currently playing very strong in its native Sweden (where it is number three in the top ten after five weeks), will try to snag a piece of the same market. Tight competition is also expected from Valhalla Rising [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Nicolas Winding Refn
film profile] (Euforia) by Denmark’s Nicolas Winding Refn.

Other European titles opening today include Mr. Nobody [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jaco Van Dormael
interview: Jaco Van Dormael
film profile] (Oro Film) by Belgium’s Jaco van Dormael and the Irish/US comedy Leap Year by Anand Tucker (UIP).

Last weekend, four Norwegian films were in the top ten: debut director Terje Rangnes’s An Ordinary Day at Work (number five), a satire about the gossip press; children’s movie East End Angels (number seven) by Lars Berg; the new comedy Kurt Josef Wagle and the Legend of the Fjord Witch (number eight) by Dead Snow [+see also:
trailer
film profile] director Tommy Wirkola; and the latest kids franchise film about the Olsen Gang Junior (number ten).