A strong lead performance can’t save this unsubtle Norwegian film about a woman who goes too far in chasing social media clout
Kristoffer Borgli’s body-horror satire has had some enthusiastic reviews since it premiered at Cannes last year; I found the Norwegian film unsubtle and unrewarding, exhaustingly implausible on a basic realist level, and containing a jarring obviousness which makes its supposed commentary on society and celebrity all but valueless.
It does, however, have a strong lead performance from Kristine Kujath Thorp, who plays Signe, a young woman in Oslo who is in an uneasy relationship with Thomas (Eirik Sæther), an insufferably conceited conceptual artist creating sculptures from stolen office furniture. In her peevish and snippy way, Signe is toxically jealous of Thomas’s status and prestige; she resents her own subordinate position in their friend group as his girlfriend and her humiliatingly lowly job as a coffee shop barista.
Kristoffer Borgli’s body-horror satire has had some enthusiastic reviews since it premiered at Cannes last year; I found the Norwegian film unsubtle and unrewarding, exhaustingly implausible on a basic realist level, and containing a jarring obviousness which makes its supposed commentary on society and celebrity all but valueless.
It does, however, have a strong lead performance from Kristine Kujath Thorp, who plays Signe, a young woman in Oslo who is in an uneasy relationship with Thomas (Eirik Sæther), an insufferably conceited conceptual artist creating sculptures from stolen office furniture. In her peevish and snippy way, Signe is toxically jealous of Thomas’s status and prestige; she resents her own subordinate position in their friend group as his girlfriend and her humiliatingly lowly job as a coffee shop barista.
- 4/18/2023
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
If Lars von Trier hadn’t grown top-heavy with the mythology of his self-importance, he might have tossed off a movie like “Sick of Myself” — a social satire in the form of a queasy drama of body horror, and a movie whose disturbing bad-boy tastelessness recalls Von Trier’s “The Idiots,” with a touch of David Cronenberg. This is the second feature by Kristoffer Borgli, the Norwegian writer-director whose first film, “Drib” (2017), was a send-up of the marketing industry, and in a way the new movie is about marketing too. This one, though, takes a viscerally upsetting look at just how far an individual will go to gain attention in the new era of social-media addiction.
The movie, which premiered at Cannes last year, arrives from the same production team that backed “The Worst Person in the World,” and part of the offbeat way the film gets its hooks in...
The movie, which premiered at Cannes last year, arrives from the same production team that backed “The Worst Person in the World,” and part of the offbeat way the film gets its hooks in...
- 4/15/2023
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
Ari Aster, the horror maestro behind Hereditary and Midsommar, is out with Beau Is Afraid on four screens as A24 presents the film in LA (AMC Century City and Burbank) and New York, in Imax on both coasts, followed next week by a regional Imax expansion and into to a wider national rollout April 21.
The film is getting some love from Martin Scorsese, who will join Aster in conversation Monday night after an Imax showing in NYC. Opening weekend will feature Q&As with Aster and cast, which includes Nathan Lane, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Patti LuPone, Amy Ryan and Parker Posey.
The director has a dedicated fan base, and that’s invaluable in looking to break out with the specialty market still tentative compared with the Super Mario Bros-sized rebound of the broader box office. Presales indicate a strong debut.
Deadline’s review calls...
The film is getting some love from Martin Scorsese, who will join Aster in conversation Monday night after an Imax showing in NYC. Opening weekend will feature Q&As with Aster and cast, which includes Nathan Lane, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Patti LuPone, Amy Ryan and Parker Posey.
The director has a dedicated fan base, and that’s invaluable in looking to break out with the specialty market still tentative compared with the Super Mario Bros-sized rebound of the broader box office. Presales indicate a strong debut.
Deadline’s review calls...
- 4/14/2023
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
Editors note: This review was originally published May 22 after its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. The film opened in New York on Wednesday and today in Los Angeles.
Timing can be cruel. Norwegian director Kristoffer Borgli’s second feature, Sick of Myself, has the misfortune to arrive in the Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard section in the slipstream of Ruben Östlund’s divisive but funny competition title Triangle of Sadness; the latter being a broader, sillier but much more brutal dissection of class and culture. Sick of Myself also has to compete with the unexpected longevity of fellow countryman Joachim Trier’s hit The Worst Person In The World, which last year went from the Cannes competition all the way to the Oscars.
The net result is that despite another great, gutsy central performance from Ninjababy star Kristine Kujath Thorp, Sick of Myself won’t get...
Timing can be cruel. Norwegian director Kristoffer Borgli’s second feature, Sick of Myself, has the misfortune to arrive in the Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard section in the slipstream of Ruben Östlund’s divisive but funny competition title Triangle of Sadness; the latter being a broader, sillier but much more brutal dissection of class and culture. Sick of Myself also has to compete with the unexpected longevity of fellow countryman Joachim Trier’s hit The Worst Person In The World, which last year went from the Cannes competition all the way to the Oscars.
The net result is that despite another great, gutsy central performance from Ninjababy star Kristine Kujath Thorp, Sick of Myself won’t get...
- 4/14/2023
- by Damon Wise
- Deadline Film + TV
Sick of Myself, the sickly comedy from Norwegian director Kristoffer Borgli, begins with a measure of artistic innocence. Two struggling artists steal a bottle of expensive wine and tell the story to partygoers hours later. They both want the credit, to have the room’s collective eyeballs to be facing in their direction. And when one of them, Signe (Kristine Kujath Thorp), doesn’t receive any attention, her disgust is visible. Her frown worsens and she begins spouting about the necessity of narcissism, a conversation that might not seem dissimilar for anyone currently in creative fields.
As her boyfriend, Thomas (Eirik Sæther), achieves a level of success, that frown continues its perpetual downturn. Then Borgli’s initial comedy is off to the races, pivoting into something much darker, much more horrific. Signe craves approval, craves attention in such a way that feels like the worst parts of someone coming to the forefront.
As her boyfriend, Thomas (Eirik Sæther), achieves a level of success, that frown continues its perpetual downturn. Then Borgli’s initial comedy is off to the races, pivoting into something much darker, much more horrific. Signe craves approval, craves attention in such a way that feels like the worst parts of someone coming to the forefront.
- 4/14/2023
- by Michael Frank
- The Film Stage
One of John Waters’s favorite movies of 2022, Sick of Myself possesses a distinctly American outlook despite being the creation of Norwegian filmmaker Kristoffer Borgli. Indeed, the ego-driven, crime-ladden pursuit for fame and recognition are as present in Sick of Myself as they are in many of American trash ambassador Waters’s films. “No, it’s not Female Trouble,” wrote Waters in his Artforum blurb of the film, “but it’s just as nuts,” and the film’s overtly American satirical edge has everything to do with his decision to relocate to Los Angeles several years ago. Sick of Myself follows Signe (Kristine Thorp), a […]
The post “I’m Very Comfortable With Repeating Ideas Until They Are Perfected”: Kristoffer Borgli on Sick of Myself first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “I’m Very Comfortable With Repeating Ideas Until They Are Perfected”: Kristoffer Borgli on Sick of Myself first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 4/12/2023
- by Natalia Keogan
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
One of John Waters’s favorite movies of 2022, Sick of Myself possesses a distinctly American outlook despite being the creation of Norwegian filmmaker Kristoffer Borgli. Indeed, the ego-driven, crime-ladden pursuit for fame and recognition are as present in Sick of Myself as they are in many of American trash ambassador Waters’s films. “No, it’s not Female Trouble,” wrote Waters in his Artforum blurb of the film, “but it’s just as nuts,” and the film’s overtly American satirical edge has everything to do with his decision to relocate to Los Angeles several years ago. Sick of Myself follows Signe (Kristine Thorp), a […]
The post “I’m Very Comfortable With Repeating Ideas Until They Are Perfected”: Kristoffer Borgli on Sick of Myself first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “I’m Very Comfortable With Repeating Ideas Until They Are Perfected”: Kristoffer Borgli on Sick of Myself first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 4/12/2023
- by Natalia Keogan
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
From Sick of Myself’s opening scene depicting an awkward birthday dinner, the power dynamic between young couple Signe (Kristine Kujath Thorp) and Erik (Eirik Saether) is succinctly established. The latter is taking off with new magazine profiles and gallery attention every day through his seemingly lame, vaguely defined art. Compared to a partner able to afford (and furthermore flaunt) a $2,300 bottle of wine as a gift during this expensive restaurant dinner, Signe, finding herself still employed in a café, is deeply jealous.
As she remarks to a friend: “You need to be a narcissist to make it.” In this case not just reaffirming herself, but referencing her boyfriend’s own brand of self-obsession in the face of his newfound success. A service worker living in the shadow of her acclaimed artist partner has, of course, definite echoes of another Norwegian millennial odyssey, The World Person in the World. Sick of Myself...
As she remarks to a friend: “You need to be a narcissist to make it.” In this case not just reaffirming herself, but referencing her boyfriend’s own brand of self-obsession in the face of his newfound success. A service worker living in the shadow of her acclaimed artist partner has, of course, definite echoes of another Norwegian millennial odyssey, The World Person in the World. Sick of Myself...
- 4/12/2023
- by Ethan Vestby
- The Film Stage
In today's world, hell most certainly is other people, not for the reason of alienation, but for daring to be out of signal while everyone else is virtue signaling. Kristoffer Borgli has got his fingers on the beating pulse of the media culture of today. After pulling out his directorial scalpel for a mockumentary vivisection with his first feature Drib (2017), this time around he’s picking up the remains and showing them in full display in his first proper fictional feature. Sick Of Myself premiered earlier this year at Cannes Film Festival, grabbing a nomination in the Un Certain Regard Award section, and has, just recently, been shown at Palić Film Festival as a part of its Official Selection.
The story follows Signe (Kristine Kujath Thorp) and Thomas (Eirik Sæther), a dysfunctional couple of delusional narcissists. He is a brazen kleptomaniac, hustling his way into the art world by making.
The story follows Signe (Kristine Kujath Thorp) and Thomas (Eirik Sæther), a dysfunctional couple of delusional narcissists. He is a brazen kleptomaniac, hustling his way into the art world by making.
- 7/26/2022
- by Nikola Jovic
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
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