SpoutBlog on spout.com

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.

So the main character in this film feels similar, in a way - at least we thought so - to Benjamin Braddock from The Graduate. He’s lived his whole life - except in that movie, he’s young - and he realizes, “Oh, my gosh! my whole life I’ve been living this, and I don’t want to live this way any longer.” Odd does the same thing. Did you watch movies like The Graduate, or films about young men coming of age, and did that have any impact on this film?

I’m trying to think who Mrs. Robinson is in this film.

Hmm. Maybe the ski jump itself? That’s a good question.

With references, like I always say, I take it from wherever I get inspired - from life itself, obviously, from other films, literature, painting, or whatever. I’m not this man of favorites. Usually if I see some similarities with something, I’d rather take it away than use it, if it’s too close to something. I try not to analyze my own films. That’s hard. But if that was my job, I could probably find a lot of references.

Did you research older people retiring when you started working on this?

No, that’s one thing I didn’t do. When I made my first film, Eggs, which was about two old brothers, I have to get back to that because then I didn’t do it either. But I spent a lot of time with my grandparents, so I think that was my education in a way. It was very nice, in the audience today in Toronto, there was a lady asking a question, and she presented herself. I recognized her name and it was my cousin who’s living here in Toronto. She’s in her mid-70s. She asked afterwards, “Bent, I recognize a lot about Uncle Leif,” which was an uncle of mine that she also knew. I didn’t think about that, but that’s true too. So I probably used whatever I referenced from my childhood. I’ve always been interested in old people from when I was young.

But I think the love I have for people comes from my grandparents, especially from my grandmother. She read a lot for me when I was young. I stayed with them, and somehow, they organized their lives. It was old-fashioned and quite a long time ago. There were some basic things I learned from being together with them.

You mentioned that your mother was a ski jumper like Horton’s, and you dedicate the film to ski jumpers. Did the idea come from your parents or from your grandparents? Or, was this just an idea you had out of the ether one day?

I didn’t have this focused idea, as I used to have when I write scripts. It can be so focused that it’s just a kind of concept, or it’s a situation. And from that I’d start from the inside and work my way out. On this one, it was more like I started from the outside and had to try to find something in the middle, and work my way in. So I don’t know where it comes from, and I still feel that I’m traveling with Odd Horton on his train. It’s really strange, but an interesting process of writing.

It sounds like it. Do you feel like it’s a risk to make a movie where your leading actor is an old, single retired man? It’s very different than most films you see, do you think that’s a risk, or did that not occur to you?

First of all, it’s always a risk to make a film. And then to deal with old people; the main cinemagoer’s age is from 15 to 20-something, I think. Yes. Absolutely, I’m aware of that. But I produce my own films, so in a way I do what I want.

Obviously, when the film was finished I had to work hard to promote it. What I’ve learned is that with films like this - now it’s been screened a few times - as long as you can get the people into the cinemas, they like the film very much, and they really need this kind of film. I hope I don’t sound too…

Preachy?

Yeah. I don’t mean to be. But the battle is to get the people into the cinemas, I think. But I have the chance to make these kinds of stories, which I think is important. There are so many other stories, not only this.

One thing that you keep returning to in the film is that Horton doesn’t feel like he’s lived up to his mother’s expectations, which feeds into the climax of the film. Why does it become so important to him, given the fact that his mother will never know?

I have a little bit of a bad consciousness about that subject. The film is dedicated to my mother and all female ski jumpers. My mother was the one that followed me in all sports, and encouraged me to do things, which later in life, also made me not afraid of anything. That helped me jump into things that I wanted to do.

On the other hand, maybe he feels more guiltier than he should, and that’s more characteristic of him. I don’t know how much she pushed him. Maybe he feels that in this stage of life, when he’s really pushed by the situation of being retired, he finds himself in an empty space. So I don’t know how fair that is to his mother either. But all these explanations have to be in the film, of course, and I’m talking about the film. But I thought about that. Usually it’s the fathers that are always pushing their sons, and you can never live up to your father, and that’s not healthy either. So although it’s a kind of complex issue between, usually sons and fathers, but now, a son and a mother. But hopefully, it’s not described that hard; that was not my intention, I think but some kind of healthy, inspiring push.

Your last film was Factotum that was at the festivals. I saw that at Sundance. That movie was about Charles Bukowski, at least, his earlier years. It was sort of an autobiographical story that he had written. Do you feel any connections between Odd Horton and Charles Bukowski?

In a way, maybe. I hadn’t thought about it that way. They are both quite lonely people. Hank ruined his life, in a way. Then you have a self-view, and you have a kind of position. I don’t know if Odd has the same position in his own life.

Right. He’s not at the same place.

No. When it comes to more basic things, when you ask these questions, you need one friend in life, and Hank seems not to have one. He has a lot, but they are not his closest friends. And Odd has, in a way, his mother, but she is lost also because she’s demented. So in a way, they are two very, very different kinds of persons, but they have something in common concerning the solitude that I’m trying to express through the film.

Are there any other Norwegian filmmakers that you watch? I had seen the film Reprise earlier this year, which I really enjoyed. Do you watch other Norwegian films?

I try to watch most of them, but I don’t succeed all the time. We make about 20 films a year, so it should absolutely be possible to do. But the other filmmakers, I feel them just slip away from me, but most of them I watch.

This morning I was speaking with Joel and Ethan Coen. I don’t know if you’ve seen any of the Coen brothers’ films…

Of course, I like them very much.

Ethan Coen said, “Well, it’s very hard for me to talk about my own movies because I feel like everything I’ve said is on the screen. And I can’t answer any questions, and it should speak for itself”. Do you find that’s the case? You must get lots of different questions about your movies.

In a way, I do. On the other hand, I understand that the audiences want to hear what kind of view I have of my own work. But absolutely, I agree with the Coen brothers about that. But I understand why people want to hear what I have to say about it. What I’m saying is not the truth; that’s just what I’m saying and thinking.

They can come up with their own interpretation.

Absolutely.

So what’s next for you? Are you already working on another film, or writing another film?

I’m at that stage, but I don’t know what’s going to be next. But there are several things that I’m looking into now. Following up, as a director, it’s good to go around and to do press. You have to do that. It helps a lot for the distributors.

Great. Well we loved the movie, so I wish you much success with it.

Thanks a lot.

Thank you. It was a pleasure.