There's a thing that independent cinema can do so right and that's show the beauty and the strife of ordinary life. No fancy camera tricks, no special effects, just the agony and the ecstasy of a person filling the frame. Joachim Trier's Oslo, August 31st hits this out of the park. The film is about a recovering drug addict named Anders who is ten months into rehab and struggling with slowly reintegrating into life. On August 30th he gets a day pass away from his treatment centre to go out for a job interview and on the way meets people from his past who show us glimpses of who he once was and who he is now. There aren't any major showy lines in the movie and though there are moments of beauty (Trier is very loving in his depiction of Oslo) this character study is quiet, slow- moving and incredibly touching. A compassionate look at addiction and depression and a must see.

772/5000 There can be nothing more boring, than when a director begins to put plans that have no meaning. The worst thing is that it does not happen only at the beginning and end of the movie if not what happens in many moments.It is a cold movie, especially because at no time do you empathize with the protagonist, who in fact, personally I dislike. I do not understand you at any time. I also do not understand some moments of the film, nor do I know why it ends that night of partying like that, instead of taking advantage of the moment in front of it. That she can see that girl in him, is something that I will never understand.I do not like photography, if there is photography.The address is totally non-existent. He does not know where he's going or how to roll.He is a worthy apprentice to his cousin Lars

I watched this because I read a rave review.Maybe it is realistic. In the sense that reality can be extremely dull.I found it tiresome and completely uninvolving. If you end up caring about any of the characters, you're a better man than I.In presenting someone who's suicidal, it certainly left me wanting to slit my own wrists.Basically, it's a day in the life of a spoilt, self-pitying, self-absorbed twit.I only wish he'd killed himself at the start of the film rather than the end as it would have saved me the tedious torture of watching it.I hope this review saves someone else from wasting time that could be much better spent.

bitter, cold, gray, powerful. pictures of disillusion. search of yourself in a strange world. desire of new beginning. close doors. out sense meetings. pain and drops of hope. the life has unique sense. the past can not be present or future. the force source of story is its universal value. Anders may be everybody. his trip to a little sense of existence or only for a realistic form of consolation is part of each man or woman. maybe, not so painful. he can be one of Dostoievsky characters. or only a Tchekov page silhouette. but he is more. he is a hero of our time. a kind of Sisif. or only his remains. few beautiful images. a magnificent performance of Anders Danielsen Lie. and a town as skin of fall. nothing else. only a room, a piano, a lake and last day of summer - perfect scene for last step.