Popular reviews

• 

  Review by AbandonChimp ★★★

  I wanna party with those old conductors. Anybody who can identify the make, model and route of a train solely from an audio recording is A-OK in my book.

• 

  Review by Antonomasia ★★★★ 2

  When you're smiling through almost every minute of a film, something has gone right.

  O'Horten has that slightly Buddhist sense of calm ordered openness that often pervades recent Scandinavian comedies and dramas, and I'd forgotten how much I love it. Need it, even.

  And the title character himself, widowed, recently retired train driver Odd Horten, has a subtle gravitas which carries him almost unperturbed, but never inhuman, through a ludicrous series of embarrassing and occasionally upsetting events. However hilarious, these occur with a gentle, present bewilderment; the direction rarely contains those metaphorical arrows and foghorns saying "Look! quirky thing!" Whilst Odd isn't travelling, the way he's repeatedly overtaken by absurd occurrences put me in mind of Planes, Trains and Automobiles…

• 

  Review by loureviews ★★★½ 3

  Not an Irish film, as you might assume by the title, this is a Norwegian piece about train driver Odd Horten, sixty-seven and leaving work after forty years - when he misses his final shift, he becomes embroiled in lots of strange events and curiously starts to live for the first time.

  Utterly cute and charming, this is helped by a warm lead performance from Bard Owe, who manages to portray a world-weary air which befits one long employed with a strange innocence of the world - one odd sequence which would never be in a British film concerns a young boy who has never met Horten before but insists he sit by his bed until he goes to sleep,…

• 

  Review by EudoraFletcher ★★★½

  I enjoyed the pictures and if I hadn´t had the impression of having seen other movies like it before (reminded me of Aki Kaurismäki und Jim Jarmusch or for example „Schultze gets the Blues“) I would have been more excited about it. So, I did like to watch the story about a train driver who has to retire and the experiences he makes.

• 

  Review by Varghese

  A lovely little film about memories
  and regrets.Also the ending reminded
  me of Fallen Leaves 🥰

• 

  Review by Mark Cunliffe 🇵🇸 ★★★ 1

  Cultural differences noted whilst watching O'Horten.

  1) Norwegian Rail have a far better uniform than British Rail services. They look like U Boat commanders and put our sweaty armpit patched button straining sky blue shirted rail workers to shame.

  2) There's simply no way a British film could incorporate a scene involving a 67 year old man effectively breaking in to a complete strangers apartment and having to spend the night in the child's bedroom as that child refuses to let him leave until he's fallen asleep, for comedic effect.

  If you like your humour quirky, almost Tati-esque, or if you like trains or Norwegian films in general, I recommend O'Horten.

• 

  Review by Eric ★★★ 1

  If you think Kaurismaki Movies are Slow Burner, try this one and you think Kaurismaki could direct the next Fast and the Furious Movie.

• 

  Review by Stein Rutledal ★★★★

  Absolutely wonderful deadpan comedy from Bent Hamer. There’s a very inherent sadness to the film, but it also has a very positive outlook.

  I’m very excited to finally get the Bent Hamer collected filmography on blu ray.

• 

  Review by hotsake ★★★

  Similar to About Schmidt but not as quirky. This is a quiet dramedy about one man's search for meaning in the twilight of his life and the people he meets along the way.

• 

  Review by TajLV ★★★½

  ________________________________________________________________

  Film #9 of 31 in my March Around The World | 2019 Challenge (Norway)
  ________________________________________________________________

  From Norway, writer-director Bent Hamer gives us a dramedy with an absurdist edge. The main character, Odd Horten (Bard Owe), is a 67-year-old railway engineer who is forced to retire after 40 years of dedicated service to Norges Statsbaner (Norwegian State Railways) on the route between Oslo and Bergen. When he stays at the pension in Bergen for the penultimate time, he tells the owner Svea (Henny Moan) that he intends to fly back to Oslo after his last run. He's never taken a plane before.

  The Engineer Association throws a dinner in Odd's honor. They present him with a Silver Locomotive award. Afterwards,…

• 

  Review by Anny ★★★★

  This is the story of Odd, a soon-to-be retired train driver. You know it's time for Odd to come in terms with himself, what does he want to do with his life next? What's out there to do?

  On his last day of work, he misses the shift and from that moment on, he is exposed to many different encounters he would never have if he kept working. It's like a magical window opened and he could see what he has been missing while inside the train. I wouldn't say that all experiences are pleasurable but at least they make him feel vulnerable and young again.

  I consider this a coming-of-age story, Odd is discovering, as a child, what it feels like to be older.

• 

  Review by Tom Morton ★★★★★

  O'Horten is a film about a Norwegian train driver who retires, and doesn't know what to do next. He visits his elderly mother. He thinks about selling his boat. He goes for a drink. He meets a diplomat.

  It is a perfect film of true beauty, with the best score I have ever heard. It is trains rushing through the snow. It's a beautiful day for driving blind.