06/09/2005

Norwegian director Pål Sletaune ("one of the ten most promising directors" according to Variety) presented his violent and sexually charged Naboer (Next door) at the Venice days on Monday. An expert thriller high on atmosphere and scares, Naboer leaves standard genre fare in its wake with a vivid psychological portrait of its protagonist and an impeccable direction of its actors.

After the break-up with his girlfriend Ingrid, John (Kristoffer Joner) becomes acquainted with the two sexy girls who live next door. They invite him into their labyrinthine apartment where they reveal to know him very well ("As neighbours do", one of them says), perhaps they know him even better than he does himself. Their lives quickly become entangled in Lynchian web of sex, violence and mysterious occurrences. As Naboer progresses, the line between wanting and doing, just desiring and actually carrying out will become increasingly blurred.

Excellent cinematography, production design and a haunting score help the director in creating a tense atmosphere throughout the film, but according to writer-director Sletaune the basis for creating tension is the script. "It was written as a chamber piece with four characters", explains the director, "and in the script it was important to create the space for a very visual film. The apartment of the girls for example was designed in way to give us a maximum of possibilities when shooting. It was important that their home felt like a real place; we wanted to create a total world, not a theatre version of that world".

The horror genre is relatively new to the director, who is mainly known for his black comedy thrillers, though he is no stranger to enigmatic protagonists such as John. Says Sletaune: "After having made two films [that narrate] in the third person, I wanted to make a film in the first person; a subjective, psychological film". In fact, during the film one becomes aware that John is perhaps not as innocent as he might have appeared at first. The director was very much aware of the risks of an unlikable protagonist: "I worked hard with Kristoffer Joner to make the character into something which would interest the audience". Their hard work clearly paid off as Naboer intelligently mixes classic elements of the horror genre with the possibility to peek into the psyche of a highly unusual man.

The film was produced by 4 1/2 in co-production with Memfis Film international, Zentropa Entertainments5 and Nordisk Film Post Production. The project was also supported by the Norwegian Film Fund, Eurimages, the Swedish Film Institute and the Danish Film Institute. Nordisk Film International Sales is the international sales agent.