Reprise

365 Films

Entry #103

Reprise (2006)

Directed by Joachim Trier

Reprise is a film that should, by all accounts, be irredeemably insufferable.  This new wave influenced tale of two Oslo young authors dealing with the aftermath of each having their first novel published should resonate with about a fraction of the population.  The marvel of Reprise is its ability to infuse its world with such life and vibrancy that it becomes awfully hard not to completely understand and know these characters even from the very beginning all the way until the final shot.  Stylized without becoming over bearing, emotionally resonant without resorting to mopey navel gazing, and possessing a keen insight into the world of its characters, Reprise avoids every single pratfall of the young male artist coming of age drama.  The first thing one will notice is how funny the film is, how much warmth it creates within the group of friends that constitutes its center.  This is a film that is very much about how individuals behave in a group and how even within people who have known you your entire life; you will always be subjected to labels and constrictions.  By the end of the film, each character in this film has violated those limitations and as a result, drastically altered the course in which they thought they were heading.  The anonymous voice over that punctuates the proceedings serves not only to place the characters within the context of a novel that one of the two leads might be writing, but also to carefully dissect the space in which we all live where the word would becomes the our lives’ all encompassing collective idea.  This would happen if only this would happen and so on and so forth.  The characters in Reprise live in a world where they are doomed to make the same mistakes as the creations of their favorite selections of popular culture.  Whether it’s a band that fell apart in its prime, or a literary reclusive genius that wrote one great novel and burned out just as quickly, Reprise is all about making your mark and suffering intensely when it’s your time.  One of the most difficult life lessons to learn is when the cultural detritus with which you’ve grown to saturate yourself becomes the weight that keeps you from soaring.  As intellectually stimulating and richly rewarding as it is, one can very easily become lost inside of it.  The characters in Reprise learn nothing as simple as a life lesson to keep them from living inside their own heads, but by the end of the film, you get the distinct impression that they won’t least repeat their mistakes.  And perhaps most importantly, the viewer has learned to root for them as well.