Three co-productions have been selected for Sundance Film Festival 20-30 of January 2022: Oliver Hermanu’s Living, Hanna Bergholm’s Hatching and Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person in the World. In addition, two shorts will be shown in retrospective: Niki Linderoth von Bahrs The Burden and Johnannes Nyholm’s Las Palmas. All co-produced with Film i Väst.
Living
A veteran civil servant and bureaucratic cog in the rebuilding of Britain post-WWII, Williams (Bill Nighy) expertly pushes paperwork around a government office only to reckon with his existence when he’s diagnosed with a fatal illness. A widower, he conceals the condition from his grown son, spends an evening of debauchery with a bohemian writer in Brighton, and uncharacteristically avoids his office. But after a vivacious former co-worker, Margaret, inspires him to find meaning in his remaining days, Williams attempts to salvage a modest building project from bureaucratic purgatory.
Director Oliver Hermanus (Beauty) offers a poignant reimagining of Akira Kurosawa’s masterpiece, Ikiru (To Live). Nobel and Booker Prize–winning author Kazuo Ishiguro’s adaptation elegantly transposes the story’s profound humanism to postwar London. Free of false sentimentality and tragic intonations, Living finds its soul in the wistful dignity Nighy brings to Williams. Transcending its period setting, Living is a timely reflection on the compulsions and distractions that obscure what it means to live.
Hatching
Tinja’s mother showcases their family’s existence on her popular blog “Lovely Everyday Life” as a brightly hued domestic idyll set amid manicured suburban perfection. Beneath the impeccable veneer, though, friendless tween gymnast Tinja is struggling, spending most of her time striving to please her image-obsessed mom and appease her shrilly obnoxious little brother. After finding a wounded bird in the woods, she brings its strange egg home, nestles it in her bed, and nurtures it until it hatches. The creature that emerges, christened Alli, becomes Tinja’s closest friend, surrogate child, and living nightmare in this tremendously twisted coming-of-age body horror film.
Director Hanna Bergholm’s pointedly satirical feature debut constantly surprises, upending expectations by continually morphing alongside the newly hatched Alli. Delivering audacious displays of vomitous havoc, Hatching is also a fascinating portrait of the nature of maternal instinct, as Tinja battles to come to terms with the genuine emotional bond with her grotesque and bloodthirsty newfound family while contending with the fraying connection to her own demanding mother.
The Worst Person in the World
Since premiering in competition at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival (with Renate Reinsve winning Best Actress for her performance), audiences around the world have been charmed by this modern take on the romantic comedy.
Julie is young, beautiful, smart, and not exactly sure what she desires in a career or partner. One night she meets Aksel, a well-known graphic novelist 15 years her senior, and they quickly fall in love. Wondering if this will be the rest of her life, she meets a coffee barista, Eivind, who is also in a relationship. Julie has to decide, not just between two men but also who she is and who she wants to be.
In the final installment of his Oslo Trilogy about contemporary existence in the Norwegian capital, director Joachim Trier beautifully captures a specific moment in life when the restless energy of the immense possibility of youth mixes with the melancholic feeling that you probably should have figured all this out by now. Featuring one of the most memorable moments in recent film history, The Worst Person in the World is an existential romp about accepting the most difficult person you may ever meet: yourself.
Two shorts
Johannes Nyholm’s Las Palmas and Niki Lindroth von Bahr’s The Burden.
