Spout’s Paul Moore loved Bent Hamer’s newest film O’Horten at the Telluride Film Festival, and I got a chance to sit down with him in Toronto where his film was also playing. Besides having a name made for a heavy metal guitarslinger, Hamer is already a very accomplished director, having previously directed movies like Eggs, Kitchen Stories, and Factotum, and O’Horten is his fifth film to come to play in States.
Besides being a director, Hamer is also a writer, producer, and owner and founder of the BulBul Film Association in his native Norway. Read on to find out what inspired the film and why he feels like he’s still riding along with Odd Horten even today, or you can listen to the audio of the interview right here.
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There just aren’t enough movies about old people. O’Horten is a Norwegian film about the title character coming of age, but this coming of age story takes place when he’s 67 years old, on the eve of retiring. Directed by Bent Hamer (Factotum), it’s a revealing movie about the quietly tumultuous transition in life with a soft name: Retirement.
The movie opens with Odd Horten (Bard Owe), a 40 year veteran train engineer, waking up to his morning routine, which is just as mechanical as the train station he reports to each day. Helming the engine, he drives his train in and out of dark mountain passages opening to the stark landscape of Norway in winter.
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