Aberdeen

 

 

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Kaisa, a young woman who works at a nameless large corporation is busy trying to succeed at work and, in her off hours, trying to lose herself in meaningless sex and cocaine.
Her mother asks her to do something... to go pick up Kaisa's father and bring him to Aberdeen. Sounds simple enough, doesn't it? Kaisa agrees. After all, her mother said she spoke to Kaisa's dad and he wants to come to Aberdeen.
Kaisa, with her emotional baggage in hand, flies to (I believe it's) Norway, rents a car, and goes to see her dad, who is at a pub.
Here, things start to go awry.
Not only does Tomas (Kaisa's dad) not want to go to Aberdeen, he hasn't spoken with Kaisa's mother in years. On top of it, we find out he's an alcoholic, who has lost his job, and his life (like his apartment) is a chaotic mess.
Kaisa tries to fly back to Aberdeen with her dad, but one mishap after another makes getting to Aberdeen nearly impossible.
I like the cinematography in this film, and the acting is flawless. The locations are unusual and the script comes up with unexpected twists and turns.
With Stellan Skarsgard, every sigh, every twist of the mouth speaks volumes and his performance in this film is one of his all-time best.
He plays Tomas, who struggles to be what he is not; struggles to cope with what he obviously can't cope with; fights his own demons and loses time and again. He's a man who has probably never known what it feels like to be respected, and he obviously doesn't respect himself.
Kaisa's upbringing was obviously not ideal, with her father away two weeks a month on a North Atlantic oil rig, and (presumably) drinking himself into a coma when he was at home (alcohol wasn't allowed on the rigs, he explains at one point in the story).
But... how long can Kaisa blame her parents for her behaviour? How long should Tomas keep taking the blame? Will Tomas grow up/grow a pair and start being a father? Can people really change, and, if so, how much? And why does Kaisa's mother want her to bring Tomas to see her in Aberdeen?
Watch the film and find out :-)
P.S. I don't agree with the other reviewer about how there's sooo much nudity in this film. There's no more than in many American films, aside from a (non-sexualized) flash of Skarsgard's flaccid pride and joy when Kaisa (being a control freak) decides the time for Tomas to have his ration of alcohol is while he's in the shower.

This is an excellent movie. As noted by other reviewers, the soundtrack is excellent, and the acting is first rate.

Skarsgard never seems to miss in any film, but in Aberdeen, his performance as a lost alcoholic groping towards recovery is so good it is on a par with fellow Swede and Cannes Film winner Per Oscarsson's stunning and seminal 1966 performance as a starving writer in Henning Carlsen's Hunger.

Lena Headey is remarkable as the talented yuppie with a host of skeletons in her closet. It should also be noted that Ian Hart's performance as the humble, self effacing truck driver Clive is great. He functions as the perfect match and foil to both Skarsgard's and Headey's characters. The final scenes of the movie are powerful, and reminds me a lot of some aspects of the personal life of the great Danish director, Lar Van Trier, who won much deserved accolades for his near perfect execution in Breaking the Waves.

Like many Nordic films, Aberdeen isn't shy about nudity as viewers should be aware that there are numerous sexual scenes and frontal nudity.

The situation: Kaisa, one tough lady (for good reason, as the film makes clear later on) is asked by her dying mother to bring her father back for one last visit. Kaisa has her work cut out for her, because her father is a difficult case- drunk, surly and bitingly sarcastic to boot. He's more than an equal match for Kaisa...and that's saying a lot.
This situation could make for simple sentimental pap in the hands of the wrong director but here it turns out to be a very believable and watchable movie - although it won't be to everyone's taste. The relationship and years of bad feelings between Kaisa and her father lead to moments which are sometimes painful to watch. If you want a fun, escapist movie, far engaged from hard reality, don't pick this one up. But if you're willing to watch a movie with some bite to it, you should find this one well worth watching. An extra bonus: The music is absolutely wonderful, not the sort of usual background music that tries to tweak the viewer's emotions.

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4.0 out of 5 stars A good film...
If you want to see Lena Heady's breasts exposed, this is the film to watch. But besides the numerous unnecessary topless scenes (which aren't too bad) this film is very... Read more

Published on May 4 2002 by Pen Name?

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