Aberdeen

The click box for five stars is labeled 'I love it.' I did not love it - but I am better off for having watched it. This is a serious piece of work focused on substance abuse and difficult family dynamics. Another reviewer said it was depressing. I had a different reaction. No doubt, I did find it a bit harsh. But 'depressing' is a subjective description which, by definition, has no objective scale. I found the story-line engaging and the characters, as written and performed, to be fully developed. There are very few superfluous incidents turning the plot, and no gratuitous violence or nudity (a few topless scenes but nothing physically explicit). There is a little bit of strong language, if that matters. Not recommended for minors. At base, there is an interesting story to be told. Don't play this selection when you just need an escape. I'm not saying it's bad - I just found it to be heavy, serious, and kind of important.

This is a film that creeps up on you. It starts out as a daughter played by Lena Heady, trying to bring her raging alcoholic father, Tomas, played by Stellan Skarsgard to the deathbed of her mother in Aberdeen. Helen, played by Charlotte Rampling, wants to bring her estranged former partner, Tomas to be with his daughter. Getting from Oslo to Aberdeen is one hell of a process. Car breakdowns, losing father, rid8 g with a truck driver, getting into a fight with a bunch of thugs and on and on. By the time they get to Aberdeen, both are the worse for wear.The acting by Heady and Starsgard is extraordinary, their characters are true to life, but the subject of acute alcoholism is not treated with respect. The storyline is really the trek of father/daughter, and it is a good one.Recommended. prisrob 07-22-18

Riveting to watch a group of white men in suits beat the hell out of white woman and two men. Usually it's black on white. Or some black in the mix on film. Maybe because was a European film it had many surprise twists for me. Too many underbelly topics and hopelessness. Not so sure I like. World class acting.

Stellan Skarsgard is my reason for five stars and the rest of the cast was equally as great. I took a chance with this movie not wanting anything too sad, but the story and acting was worth staying with and yes, I recommend this movie.

I have never said this about a movie, but it was horrible. Always waiting for it to make scence. I wanted to can it every moment and still watched the thing. I am as mad at me for watching it as I am at the people for making it. What was your point?

From her deathbed a dying mother has a clever trick to play on her lost husband and lost daughter (lost not just to her but to themselves and one another). She makes a last request of the kind only the dying can: get yourselves here somehow, and hurry. So daughter and father find one another.... No punches pulled here, but love has some punch too. Anyone can make a beautiful movie about beautiful things. Only a master can make beauty from such ugliness. No, his characters do.

I loved this quirky independent film. It shows the effects of alcoholism on an entire family, but it still manages to be funny and endearing at times. I highly recommend it to people who are sick of Hollywood films.

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.

Very good film - Stellan Skarsgard was brilliant as usual, as were the other actors in it, but for anyone who knows a person with a drink problem, it might make for uncomfortable viewing. As this was region 1, I had to watch on my computer, but this did not spoil my enjoyment of it.

I liked this a lot

I would have no hesitation at all telling someone this film is well worth watching, I really enjoyed it great story great film

Absolutely brilliant, gritty, right down to the bone, so real, no holding back. Stellan Skarsgards portrayal of an alcoholic is so utterly real that at times you have to look away with embarassment. Not for everyone this if you're one of those people who likes things to be sugar coated forget it, but if you want to see a great story with gutsy performances from all concerned watch it. Every performance is a joy. I'd give it 10 stars if I could.

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.