I am looking for recommendations regarding Norwegian movies and their DVD availability with English subs.
Looks like the choice in the UK is very very limited. Probably due to the fact that Norway never had a big film industry anyway !

I have seen Dragonflies which was OK but not exceptional and plan to purchase Nine Live (Ni Liv) as the Norwegian DVD has subs.
Ni Liv (1957) is a war movie and supposedly their best movie. Two good reasons to watch it !

Any other recommendations (other than Insomnia) is welcomed.
Thanks.

Uno
Hawaii, Oslo
Kitchen Stories (...love it...)
VinterKyss...etc....

You should specify genres so we know where to focus....

Ciao,
Pro-B

Ofelas (the Pathfinder)
Orions Belte
Kitchen Stories (great movie)
Insomnia

Slightly related:
The Story of Hurra Torpedo

Elling --> Academy Award nominated for Best Foreign Film 2002



Flåklypa Grand Prix --> A true Classic from 1975 PS. A 2-Disc 30th Anniversay with English language will be released August 18th.

All of Pro-B's suggestions are good. I'd add Naboer as well.

You could throw in one of my favorite pictures from the last 5 years as well...Arven a.k.a The Inheritance which has a fare share of Norwegian contribution in it (as well as some UK funding that should make you happy ).

Ciao,
Pro-B

I´m sorry, Pro, but "Arven" doesn´t count as Norwegian in any way. The movie itself is totally Danish.

To distinguish the nationality of a movie there´s a lot of factors to take into account. It´s based on the director, actors and location. Funding is not included.

Funding is not the reason why i placed this film here!

A quick look at the Norwegian Film Institute site indicates that Arven is indeed considered to be a multi-national production-the film was co-produced by Norway! It is also listed under Norwegian Films and Turid Øversveen's role as a co-producer is clearly indicated:
http://www.nfi.no/english/norwegianf...ow.html?id=399

So, even though country of origin is being indicated as Denmark the film is anything but totally Danish...at least according to the Norwegian Film Institute which must have much more credibility around here than I do.

Ciao,
Pro-B

Being Norwegian, I'll have to agree with Dane that Arven is a Danish film in every way but financial, where it is multinational.
Pretty much all the talent behind the film is Danish, a bit of Norwegian (and from other countries) money and Øversveen as co-producer (from my knowledge of her, not a very hands-on producer) doesn't really change that.

@Dane: The restored Flåklypa Grand Prix/Pinchcliffe Grand Prix (as well as all other surviving Ivo Caprino shorts, movies and commercials) was released in Norway November 2005, on seperate sets and in a box set.

The Norwegian Special Edition release of Ofelas/Veiviseren/The Pathfinder (also Oscar nominee for best foreign movie) afaik doesn't have English subtitles, but the German release does, and is dirt cheap (shipping from Amazon.de is not).

A Norwegian movie I'd recommend (if it ever become available with English subtitles, or at all) is
De dødes tjern/Lake of the Dead, to me probably the best Norwegian film made.

Njål, is right on the money. If one judges a films nationality on funding then many american movies are NOT really american at all. And co-producing doesn´t count either. I´m afraid Norwegian Film Institute has their facts wrong even though they would have liked it to be Norwegian. The Director, the locations and the cast determines a given film´s nationality. This is a fact due to the case how the Academy Awards judges from which country a foreign film comes from.

Njål, does the restored Flåklypa Grand Prix/Pinchcliffe Grand Prix (Norwegian version) have Danish voices or just various Scandinavian subtitles? The reason I ask is I noticed that CDON.com (Sweden) have it listed for release August 16th 2006.

According to the DVD Profiler entry (which corresponds to how I remember it, if needed I can check my set):
Norwegian: Dolby Digital 5.1
Swedish: Dolby Digital 5.1
Danish: Dolby Digital 5.1
Finnish: Dolby Digital 5.1
English: Dolby Digital 5.1
Norwegian: Dolby Digital 1

And Norwegian and English subtitles.

Pretty much everything in the Caprino set is either dubbed and/or subtitled in most Scandinavian languages, plus English.

EDIT: At a guess, the entry on the Swedish CD On site is for a release with a Swedish cover, but exact same discs.

The movies of Hans Petter Moland should be mentioned. While his latter films can hardly be called 'norwegian movies', his first two films are available in R1 (VERY early releases. 2000 or 2001 I think). They are "The last lieutenant" (Secondløitnanten) and "Zero Kelvin" (Kjærlighetens kjøtere).

Dane:

In my reply to you (see previous post) I clearly stated that funding is NOT the reason why I placed this film here. Thus, I find it rather strange that you open up your rebuttal utilizing the same argument.

Furthermore, I am NOT arguing whether or not the categorization by the Norwegian Film Institute is correct. What I wanted to point out is that there is a sizeable Norwegian contribution (this is where we disagree as I do think that when you put funding, co-producing, and cast together then obviously you can not categorize the film as being totally Danish) and a reputable institution with much more credibility than all of us on this forum, which also happens to be Norwegian, does describe the film as being a multi-national production. Furthermore, the cast, an aspect that you state affects a film’s nationality, is also not entirely Danish (there is French contribution, etc).

So, pretty much all of the cast (being Danish) does not make the film totally Danish. Most certainly not according to the Norwegian Film Institute!

To sum it all up what you read above is not something I made up, it is what others have determined. Obviously any disagreement with Arven’s nationality should be addressed at the NFI (as you have partially done so) and other similar institutions that have categorized the film in the past.

Either way, let's get back on topic which is: recommending quality Norwegian films.

Ciao,
Pro-B

Thanks for the recommendations so far. Now the hard task will be to find a site that will ship outside Scandinavia.
Looked at Kelkoo.no and well it is not easy. I found a site that'll do it for 100NOK per disk (that's $15 !!!)

Anyway I guess I'll try to find them in R1. But the original idea was to be able to get the Norsk sub (as well as English) to learn the language.
Any recommendation on a provider is more than welcome.

@ Pro-B

You´re right, not totally Danish as I wrote. 80% Danish then. However, the film is considered to be Danish as country of origin by which it has entered every filmfestival.

Let´s put this tiny disagreement behind us, and move on with more good Norwegian films.

Done

Ciao,
Pro-B

Where can I get this Grand Prix?


Also, for anyone who is interested, if you are in columbiahouse, Elling is on sale for 4.95. (it is listed in the comedy section, not international)

Well, I don't think there are that many Norwegian etailers that ship overseas, but I believe the Caprino webshop does (or at least they did; I checked what would be the least expensive option, buying elsewhere and shipping it myself, or go through the webshop, when I bought the box set for my girlfriend in the US), box set, Flåklypa Grand Prix/Pinchcliffe Grand Prix only.
Or you can try to provide CD Wow with the link to the Caprino Studios, and pester them about carrying the set and/or Pinchcliffe DVD (would help if other people joined in).

Thanks Njål, I'll look into the Caprino shop. Did you end up going through them or shipping yourself?

I found it discounted more in stores than I would have had off from deducting sales tax from shipping overseas from the Caprino shop, so I shipped it myself.
Besides, I had some other stuff I wanted to send her, and made more sense shipping everything together.