After a year with little choice for children, 2013 was a relatively active period for children film producers. The first and most prominent film of the year was Arne Lindtner Næss’s adaptation of Norwegian author Tor Ã…ge Bringsværd’s book, ” Karsten og Petra blir bestevenner” (Karsten and Petra becomes best friends).
The movie is a colorful, cheerful and imaginative film and can be a good choice for the ones who want to get to know Norwegian children literature and movie.
Along with Miss Rabbit and Lion the Junior, Karsten and Petra are dragged into big and small adventures.
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5-year-olds Karsten and Petra are in the same nursery. We follow the two in everyday life with their lively and subtle soft toys Miss Rabbit and Lion the Junior. Miss Rabbit is Petra’s prosaic soft toy. Petra got her gift from her father when she was very small. No one knows Petra better than Miss Rabbit. She knows that Petra can sometimes may be a bit awkward and unlucky. Therefore Miss Rabbit tries to keep him away from dangerous situations.
Karsten’s toy Lion the Junior is likewise his best friend. The Lion is really a tough guy who has perfect night vision and can karate. So when Karsten is afraid, Lion is a guardian for him. Fortunately he is also a good listener, when Karsten has something talk about. The big adventure starts, when Miss Rabbit disappears one day.
The movie was first premiered on February 1, 2013 in Norway and now available on DVD and Blu-Ray.
Genre: Barnefilm
Language: Norwegian (English Subtitle)
Director: Arne Lindtner Næss
Cast: Janne Formoe, Nora Amundsen, Elias Søvold Simonsen, Ivar Nørve, Hilde Lyrån, Markus Tønseth, Tone Johnsen
Fim Run: 86 min.
IMDB Rating: 7,2Â
En Som Deg
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One of the most striking films in 2013 for general audience was talented director Erik Svensson’s romantic fiction “Must Have Been Love” (En som deg). Shot in four European cities, Oslo, Helsinki, Istanbul and Berlin, the film focuses on showing the actual moments that lead to getting to know one another, building a relationship and to breaking up.
The action begins in Istanbul where Finnish Kaisa meets Norwegian Jacob on a vacation in Istanbul with their own group of friends, then she falls in love. But suddenly Jacob and his friends travel back to Oslo, and Kaisa has no contact info about him. Without being able to forget the romance, Kaisa later moves to Oslo to work as a dance choreographer and meets a man at a store which she believes is Jacob, but turns out to be another man.
The film raises questions about how far you are willing to twist reality to make them fit with your own hopes and expectations.
This romantic film, which was screened in Norway around Valentine’s Day, is now available on both DVD and Blue-Ray.
Country:Norway, Finland
Genre:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Romance/Fiction
Director:Eirik Svensson
Cast:  Pamela Tola, Espen Klouman Høiner, Mattis Herman Nyquist, Audun Hjort, Pål Sverre Hagen, Laura Birnin Esitykset, Pihla Viitala
Film run:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 85 min.
IMDB Rating: 6,3
GÃ¥ten Ragnarok
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When it comes to Norwegian movie industry’s international success in 2013, the best selling adventure film “GÃ¥ten Ragnarok”, it is a film which succeeds to appeal the interests of the cinema lovers in about 40 countries. Being a mix between a realistically told Indiana Jones and National Treasure and a tad of Jurassic Park, the mystery adventure film is about an archaeologist named Sigurd who has devoted his life to solve the thousand year old mysteries from the Oseberg ship.
When the archaeologist Sigurd can’t settle on the myth about Ragnarok, the end of the world in Northern mythology, he decides to go on an expedition together with two colleges and his two kids. This adventure leads them to Finnmark in the Northern most part of Norway, and into “No mans land” between Russia and Norway, where no one has been in modern times. Old runes gets new meanings, when they unveil the truth.
Director: Mikkel B. Sandemose
Cast: Pål Sverre Hagen, Nicolai Cleve Broch, Sofia Helin, Bjørn Sundquist, Maria Annette Tanderø Berglyd, Julian Podolski
Genre: Mystery / Adventure
Film Run: 96 min.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
Detektiv Downs (Detectiv Downs)
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The most extra ordinary and hearth warming production of the previous year is Bard Breien’s latest film about Robert Bogerud, a grown up young man with downs syndrome. Robert’s father is a detective, but suffering with grief after losing his wife, and the mother of Robert. Robert only dreams about being a detective like his father. But no one will hire him when they discover he has down syndrome.
It is not easy for him to follow the path to become the only detective with downs syndrome in the country. He has own office, a trench-coat and a Bogart-hat. He is ready – all he needs is his first case. Neither his father nor his colleagues believe in Robert. One morning a mysterious lady turns up at his office. The skating legend Olav Stjernen has disappeared, and the family fears the worst. The reality is that they are in desperate need for an incompetent detective to please Olav Stjernens senile and awfully rich mother. Robert is the perfect man for the job! The family’s secrets are far more dangerous than Robert expects.
This unique family movie is on sale in DVD and Blue-Ray format.
Director: BÃ¥rd Breien
Cast: Svein Andre Hofsø, Sven Nordin, Ida Elise Broch, Liv Bernhof Osa, Per Schaanning, Kari Simonsen, Trine Juul Andersen, Jørgen Kaalstad
Genre: Drama / Komedie
IMDB Rating: 8
