Home for Christmas (2010)
"Hjem til jul" (original title)

The film looks at those who are desperately trying to connect or reconnect with their families, friends, or anyone who will listen.

Director:

Bent Hamer

Writers:

Bent Hamer, Levi Henriksen (contributing writer)

Stars:

Nina Andresen Borud, Arianit Berisha, Joachim Calmeyer

1 win & 3 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Nina Andresen Borud	...	Karin
Arianit Berisha	...	Goran
Joachim Calmeyer	...	Simon
Trond Fausa	...	Paul (as Trond Fausa Aurvaag)
Levi Henriksen	...	Security Man
Cecile Mosli	...	Elise
Patrick Mölleken	...	Thomas (voice)
Igor Necemer	...	Serb
Tomas Norström	...	Kristen
Kai Remlow	...	Paramedic (as Kai Remlov)
Morten Ilseng Risnes	...	Thomas
Sarah Bintu Sakor	...	Bintu
Isaka Sawadogo	...	Bintu's Father (as Issaka Sawadogo)
Kristine Rui Slettebakken	...	Tone
Nadja Soukup	...	Goran's Mother

Storyline

Following a prologue set in war-torn former Yugoslavia, the film follows several different Christmas celebrations in the small Norwegian town of Skogli. Paul is a thirty-three-year-old laborer who marches into his doctor's office demanding a prescription, then proceeds to lay bare all his woes. The doctor is beleaguered by his own marital and financial difficulties (he's left his upset wife to work emergency calls on Christmas Eve). There's also an elderly man preparing an esoteric ritual, a vagrant who runs into an old flame, a middle-aged couple in the throes of passion, a boy hopelessly in love with his Muslim neighbor and a young émigré couple whose car breaks down as the woman goes into labor.

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Plot Keywords:

christmas | love | female nudity | birth | christmas tree | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site [de] Official site [jp]

Country:

Norway Sweden Germany

Language:

Norwegian English Serbian French

Release Date:

2 December 2010 (Germany)

Also Known As:

Home for Christmas

Filming Locations:

Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord, Duisburg, North Rhine - Westphalia, Germany

Company Credits

Production Co:

Pandora Filmproduktion, Filmimperiet Sverige, Bulbul Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

User Reviews

Some believable decency for Christmas

I loved this movie!

I saw it at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival and I was enjoying myself so much I was surprised when it ended in the way time flies when you're having fun. The movie is often very funny, despite the fact that there are lots of serious and painful stuff going on.

It's a Norwegian film based upon a series of short stories. I'm no expert on film-making, but this director must really know his business, because I was completely unaware that I was watching separate stories. It felt very much like one single story even though it was jumping between different ones.

The movie has a very strong belief in the basic decency of people. This doesn't mean that there aren't people doing some bad things. There is no great evil going on here, but these are real people making mistakes and acting badly and hurting each other. But decency predominates. At the same time, there isn't any "sappy-phoney-sentimentality" present. All too often in Hollywood films when people are doing good things it feels rather contrived and is just in there to make the film commercial. In this movie, you do believe that the people in the film would actually do these good things. It's a Christmas movie, but it's 100% believable.

The movie is also educational. You'll learn why you don't buy your wife and your mistress the same Christmas present!