esrosedotblog

The title is just one name but this is a buddy movie through and through.

Elling (2002)

Or at least that is how I see it.

Elling is a Norwegian mama's boy and when mama dies, he is bereft and almost comatose. He is committed to an institution and meets a guy, Kjell, who has a little problem with spontaneous violence. Hitting his head on the wall. They become room mates. Improbable. But it works out.

They are released together and put into the hands of a social worker as room mates. Their life after the institution is the subject here and it is a kind of coming of age film even though they are well past the age they were supposed to "come of" the first time.

The results are delightful.

A lot happens and, in the end, each finds a life of his own. An identity.

The jokes come one after another in that wry, sweet humor that Scandinavians dish up so well.

I enjoyed it a lot and would not mind seeing it again. A 4 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films