Sentimental Value

2025 Hurtigruten Scandinavian Film Festival at Palace Barracks Incredibly beautiful, heartfelt and sentimental (who would've guessed!) film anchored by two incredible performances from the great Renate Reinsve and the incomparable Stellan Skarsgård. These two can communicate so much with just their eyes, it's really impressive how stripped back and real their characters feel. Elle Fanning and especially Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas have some incredible moments here too as the primary supporting characters. It's truly wonderful to see a really tender film like this in a packed cinema with a reactive audience. Not to rag on the packed cinema experiences I've had for a Spider-Man: No Way Home (still the may be the most electric movie-going experience I've ever had, sorry Minecraft) or a Deadpool and Wolverine or a Superman, but I don't think those audiences are typically filled with the same folks that erupted with raucous laughter at the Piano Teacher joke in this film. Wasn't really planning on seeing it during the festival but something about the allure of seeing a film in August that's supposed to be theatrically released in Australia on Christmas Day (or January of next year? It doesn't seem very clear) was calling me. Not actually sure if it's had much of a release anywhere outside of Cannes globally? Still not as crazy as me getting to see Monkey Man at the Queensland Premiere (thanks IGN!) and logging it before it even had 900 Letterboxd logs!