hourly sebastian stan

Fjord (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️) is both complicated & utterly brilliant at the exact same time & it’s a film that’s dominated my thoughts for a few days. Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve each deliver career best work, and their performances are a big reason why this film will be talked about so much this awards season. Nevertheless, sometimes a film comes along that really sits with you and demands that you take time to digest what you watched and consider all of the perspectives that come with it - and that is the exact case with Fjord. On the surface, Fjord seems like a relatively simple film about a family in turmoil, but there is so much more to it than that. Every character contains such complexities and the film covers such a delicate subject matter that it’s a wonder it manages to walk the tightrope so effectively. I worry that some may use the film as a canvas upon which to imprint their own intense political beliefs, but I argue the film discourages the viewer from doing that and instead to embrace the nuances of a society claiming to strive for multiculturalism. The story here follows Mihai (Stan) and Lisbet (Reinsve) as they relocate their family of seven from Romania to a small town in Norway, located at the base of an icy mountain ripe for avalanches. Juggling two young adolescents, two younger children, and one baby, the transition is not the smoothest, but they slowly manage to become acclimated to their new society. As a conservative religious family, they do not always feel like they fit in properly in their new progressive environment. Their children have strict schedules that includes daily Bible study and forbids certain modernities like personal phones, trendy music, or social media. However, things take a turn for the worse when the children’s teachers notice that they have started showing up with unexplained bruises. Upon further questioning, Norwegian child protection services become involved, and the children are all removed from their parents’ custody. Thus begins a lengthy and painful legal battle through the Norwegian court system as the family tries to reunite while the court weighs what is best for the children. There are so many incredibly delicate subject matters in play throughout this movie - political beliefs, religious freedom, child discipline - that make for some difficult conversations, especially in the modern age of polarization. The truly brilliant script makes one key decision that I think saves the entire movie - they refuse to give us a clear good guy or bad guy. It’s a grey area movie. There are no simple answers or easy outs to be had here. And in so doing, it fills the film with a tremendous amount of tension. You truly never know if any particular scene is about to turn on its head and reveal a shocking or unpleasant truth. There are moments in the movie where I felt myself sympathizing with one character or another, and then the next moment would strike and make me think “what if I’m totally wrong and this entire perspective is about to crumble?” It creates an incredibly engaging viewing experience that doesn’t let up, even through the final moments and rolling credits. Stan and Reinsve are remarkable here, as they fully disappear into characters that are sympathetic but not necessarily likable. While the start of the film is a bit slow, there are two back-to-back single-take scenes at the end of the first act where each parent is individually questioned which lays the groundwork for everything that follows. The performances they each give in these moments really carries the film forward, as we learn so much about each parent, but still feel as if we are being kept at arm’s length. Reinsve is soft spoken while Stan is more blunt. Where she is full of sorrow, he is full of rage. He stumbles his way through a foreign language whereas she speaks it fluently. It’s a dynamic built off of little character details that they each play out perfectly, and it propels the whole narrative.