Cross My Heart and Hope to Die

Rating:
Summary: coming of age, with a bit of an edge...
Review: Of all the many Scandinavian coming of age movies (My Life as A Dog, The Slingshot, The Other Side of Sunday, Herman, etc.) this one is perhaps the quietest and creepiest. The screenplay is by Lars Saabye Christensen who writes virtually every Norwegian movie. I'm not a big Christensen fan, but interesting performances from the ubiquitous actors Bjorn Floberg and Gisken Armand, and especially the fragile, charismatic Jan "Devo" Kornstad slowly shift the focus from the tribulations of puberty toward a more interesting and "adult" plot. Apparently (according to my Norwegian film source) Kornstad drifted into this movie from the Oslo club scene and drifted back into the netherworld after it was over...an uncanny overlap of character and actor. I think its probably basically a pretty lame movie, but I can't help being engrossed by it.

Rating:
Summary: One of Norway's Best from the 90s
Review: This film should have received more attention than it did. Scandinavia produced a flood of coming-of-age films during the late 80s and 90s, and this is by far the edgiest and most intriguing. Jan "Devo" Kornstad--an outsider in real life as well--does a stunning job as the mysterious and clearly disturbed Frank, who befriends Otto during a long, hot and boring summer during the late 60s. The film wonderfully portrays the downside of the Scandinavian Social-Democratic idyll. If you enjoyed Monika Fagerholm's novel, Wonderful Women By the Sea, you'll also enjoy this film.