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Reprise
Miramax Films


7.0

based on 25 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 18 votes
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Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: R for sexuality and languag

Starring Anders Danielsen Lie, Espen Klouman-Høiner, and Viktoria Winge

Phillip and Erik stand at the mailbox, two cocky, grinning rebels full of 20-year-old verve and dreams, their whole lives hanging in the balance at this singular moment. Each is about to ship off his first novel to publishers, each is hoping to become a wildly influential cult author, each has a vision of a new life of nonstop intensity, brilliance, romance, and nightclubbing. Fast-forward six months. These reveries have crashed, hard, into reality. Phillip, whose novel garnered instant acclaim and turned him into a mini-celebrity, has had a terrifying breakdown and is just about to be released from a psychiatric hospital. Erik, who never sold his novel, is still pecking away, determined to follow in the footsteps of his undying hero, a reclusive but idolized writing genius, no matter what it takes. Reprise explores not just what happens to Phillip and Erik as they pick up the pieces, but what might have happened to them, what they imagine could happen, what they fear will possibly happen, and why they can't see what's actually happening. (Miramax Films)

GENRE(S):	Drama
WRITTEN BY:	Joachim Trier Eskil Vogt
DIRECTED BY:	Joachim Trier
RELEASE DATE:	Theatrical: May 16, 2008
RUNNING TIME:	105 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	Norway
LANGUAGE(S):	Norwegian

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

Joachim Trier's energetic, inventive debut takes such a novel approach to well-worn themes that it makes most movies look downright lazy.

100

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

A kinetic delight, Reprise comes from director Joachim Trier, born in Denmark but raised in Oslo, Norway, and it’s a highlight of the filmgoing year so far.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Reprise is kissed with the breath of French New Wave sensibility, sweet with verve and a love of forward movement. The mood of joy in the midst of youthful pain is enhanced by the freshness of the first-time lead actors.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

The movie has been compared, with some reason, to the French New Wave. But it's like "Jules and Jim" or "Band of Outsiders" blended with "A Hard Day's Night."

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

An exuberant, exhilaratingly playful testament to being young and hungry -- for life and meaning and immortality, and for other young and restless bodies -- Reprise is a blast of unadulterated movie pleasure.

Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano

Norwegian director Joachim Trier's inspiring first feature Reprise joyfully tackles the process of self-creation, as well as the friendships that feed and sustain it. He captures, in a way that's cool and romantic and heady, the moment in life when nothing matters more than ideas, influences and the possibility of shaping one's life into a work of art.

USA Today Claudia Puig

With its almost stream-of-consciousness style, Reprise offers a fresh and compelling look at the vagaries of friendship and creativity.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

Reprise is exceptionally smart about the crushing expectations brought to the table by those who love us.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

Like many debut features, Reprise is a foremost a statement of purpose, and in that respect, at least, Trier shows limitless promise.

Slate Dana Stevens

The feature debut of young Norwegian director Joachim Trier, is as crisp and cool as a swig of Champagne.

Washington Post John Anderson

Reprise says many cogent things about success, what it does to people and how they define it. But it also indicts the mechanics of the culture in a way that is neither Danish nor American but globalized and all the more poignant for it.

Village Voice Ella Taylor

Reprise--a masculine story whose women come off best--is less a hermeneutic finger in your face (though it aims wonderfully low blows at literary celebrity) than a savage, funny, tender, tragic, and strangely beautiful riff on growing up in a broken world.

Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones

Post-viewing, I was still coasting on the giddy high of kinetic cinema, only to have the astonishing callousness of its conclusion slowly settle in. It's a better film for it – one only wishes that Reprise on a whole had been of the same mind: a little less cool, a little more cruel. That's where the really good stuff is.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Its playful approach to chronology and voice-over narration serves to amplify its themes instead of coming off as a show-off trick.

Portland Oregonian Marc Mohan

Youth may be wasted on some of the young, but the two aspiring Norwegian novelists at the center of Reprise, director Joachim Trier's debut feature, try desperately to avoid that particular cliche.

San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein

Reprise has a smart and knowing script and will compel audiences to reflect on themselves at that age.

New York Post Kyle Smith

The film could have been improved if it had been less aggressively limp. But the post-adolescent, pre-adult moodiness is spot on: Everyone's favorite author is a bitter recluse, and the soundtrack heaves with the suicide sounds of Joy Division. Trier's intent is to reproduce a sweet, hazy vision of the agony of youth. Ever so elliptically, he succeeds.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

Clear away the annoying avant-gardism and you have a powerful movie about a writer, Phillip, who undergoes a mental breakdown and is pulled halfway back to health by his girlfriend.

TV Guide Ken Fox

The result is a rich and touching exploration of the vagaries of fortune, literary reputation and, above all, friendship that works on several levels at once. The soundtrack includes songs by Joy Division, New Order and Le Tigre.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Anders Danielsen Lie, gives a performance that's as distinctive as any in recent memory -- casually witty, remarkably graceful and yet terrifying in its explosiveness.

Film Threat Jeremy Mathews

Reprise is an energetic romp through creative frustration, stagnant relationships, the fear of change and romance-fueled insanity.

Variety Leslie Felperin

Final result, with its peculiar happy ending that may or may not be a further fantasy, may leave some auds feeling more drained than satisfied. It's a bit like spending 105 minutes with a litter of frisky, mischievous puppies.

New York Magazine David Edelstein

Broadly, this is a coming-of-age movie in the "Diner" mold: Trier tracks Phillip and Erik and a few of their pals as they stagger into a world that can't be attuned to their (male adolescent) expectations--especially in regard to women.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

The movie is enjoyable for its flashy surfaces--the witty editing, the narrative forecasting, the droll omniscient voice-over--but as drama it seems superficial.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The movie itself is good and shows promise, except for the ending, when Trier shouldn't have been so poetic. Not only does Reprise generate itself, it contains its own review.

The average user rating for this movie is 7.0 (out of 10) based on 18 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Rit B gave it a1:
The NY Times movie critic said this movie is a "blast of unadulterated movie pleasure." Yeah right. That's not the movie I saw. This was dull, dull, dull.

Tim H. gave it a2:
This movie is anything but energetic. It's a total bore. The stupid flashbacks serve only to create confusion and the sense that there is something profound happening, when it's all just mush. There should be a law against movie's that don't grab the audience in the first 30 minutes. After 30 minutes of waiting for something interesting to happen, my pal and I gave up. How this silly movie got a 79 from the critics is a mystery. I guess it's just the slack that critics cut for foreign language movies that have a slightly Bergmanesque quality. Don't waste your time or money on this one.

Sandy S. gave it a4:
I am over 65 years old. Perhaps that is why I found this movie so difficult to watch and to understand. It is hard to tell what is real and what is not , the editing jumps the scences abruptly.

Anonymous gave it a5:
This movie was very disappointing. The plot moves at an amazingly brisk pace. Unfortunately, that left little or no time for character development.

John C. gave it a1:
Gave it a "1" only because I didn't walk out. Depressing and depressed. Pointless and self-indulgent. Shot in one color - depressed blue-gray. With white illegible subtitles - come on! Avoid this pretentious stinker.

Michael M gave it a9:
At risk of sound insensitive: Roger Ebert needs to fade into the sunset already. He's giving horrifically-mediocre, happy-go-lucky movies 4 stars across the board lately, and then something wonderful like this comes along and he shits on it because, essentially, it's too depressing for him in his current state-of-health. Roger Ebert has always been a master of reducing, of glossing-over. For some of the worst reviews ever, I suggest his takes on: Blue Velvet, Dead Man, and now, Reprise.

Walker P. gave it a10:
This is the best film I've seen in ages. Moving and very funny. Great music as well!

Reprise Miramax Films

Reprise
Miramax Films