it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Middle-class kid with nice liberal parents, living in Oslo, takes drugs and gets free help to overcome addiction that but doesn't succeed- that really is the story. The only problem it would seem is an ex-girlfriend, if only she would talk to him, all would be well (because of course, you are so wrapped in yourself, the rest of the world doesn't matter). If you like that sort of thing and like peering into the screen (because it is so dark most of the time) to decipher what is going on, that is great. I was having hard time figuring out the continuity- it seemed morning then suddenly evening, then night then evening again- poor lighting and bad editing combined. Poor little rich kid also doesn't need to eat or even pee! There are much better Norwegian movies to watch- don't waste your time on this.

Anders is a 34 year old recovering drug addict in a rehab clinic. He's got 2 more weeks and isn't doing well. He's given leave to go to a job interview in downtown Oslo. He visits his friends Thomas and Rebecca. He and Thomas dig into their lives. The interview turns into a disaster when he admits to his drug past and he spirals out of control. He goes to meet his sister Nina but her friend shows up. Then he starts a night of drinking and parties ending in his darken room.It's small Norwegian film. It has a little too many quiet moments. The lead lacks a certain liveliness at the start. The movie takes too long to generate any power. The directing style is too quiet. It needs energy to match his growing anger and frustration. The overlaying of all the other people's conversations dilute his experience. There is power in his story. However the movie keeps looking away from him. I'm not sold on it. Then it turns into one of those all night party movies which again I'm not sold on as part of his life. I'd think that an addict would break as soon as he starts drinking again. The whole movie lacks that destructive energy that the character seems to imply.

With influences from two of my top 10 films, Hiroshima Mon Amour and La Haine, Oslo August 31st inherently belongs in a category of films I love. It's a very thoughtful character drama with great profound moments on life, ambition, happiness, fulfilment and second chances. The film's strongest moments are its concise reflections as the protagonist meets with an old friend or eavesdrops at a cafe. The highlight is the performance from the lead actor, Anders Danielsen Lie, who carries the whole film on his shoulders and the great washed out hand-held cinematography with its fantastic muted colour palette and interesting camera movements. However, it does struggle with pace and content at some stages where we just follow the character without meaning and purpose before we get to the interesting moments which don't feel as connected as they could have been. It's still a great, subtle and tragic film.8/10

Beautiful and interesting to watch if tragic.Anders is a heroin addict in the last weeks of rehab--we don't know how many times he has been there before--one suspects several due to the cold reception he receives from his family. He is in his early 30s.Having been through this myself I am a pretty good judge of this movie.It is very accurate. The sister who won't see him. Her friend who describes how Ander's mother is trying to give the sister family heirlooms maybe to make up for the money they have had to spend on Anders. The sister doesn't want Anders in the family home alone--but her friend gives him the keys anyway. So real.I loved the truth in this movie. Ander's friend who quotes Proust (a nod to the French origins of the story) and then his wife chastises this pretentiousness perfectly. This friend then admits his life is not so perfect and he really wonders about it--admits he doesn't sleep with his wife--a wonderful one line antidote the typical PC version of marriages.Anders state of mind is partly caused by the depressive blahs of withdrawal but also the stripping away of artifice and pretense from the humiliations of years. The exact truth of everything comes out in this state that is the intelligence of the movie. The scene in the cafe is wonderful....especially the puerile teenage girls wanting to do all these prepackaged "exciting" things--swimming with dolphins-reading a great novel you remember parts of all your life...ad nauseum. It exhausts and irritates you listening to it.Of course I knew Anders was going to OD about 30 minutes from the end that was no surprise. The director does clever things though--you see Anders playing the piano and can't see his hands so you are dismayed to think this wonderful movie is going use that tired cinema technique of showing only the hands playing but then the camera moves very slowly and no---he really is playing it. That somehow authenticates the movie. This movie works beautifully--the initial drowning attempt then the ending at the swimming pool.Probably the best and most watchable "addiction" movie I have ever seen. Plus you get to see scenes of Oslo all of it beautifully filmed. As a non sequitur.... WWII started on Sept 1 so August 31 would have been the last day of an era? Probably a coincidence?RECOMMEND HIGHLY