Norway's Amanda Awards: "Worst Person in the World" and more...

by Nathaniel R

Trier and Vogt with their Amanda Award for "Worst Person in the World" © Grethe Nygaard˙

I once briefly lived in the breathtakingly beautiful town of Haugesund, Norway and made one of my best friends for life there (hei Thomas!). He now lives there again after many years in Los Angeles and if I had any money at all I would be there right now to attend the annual Norwegian Film Festival which takes place there each year. This year's festival runs from today, August 20th, through the 26th. One of the most interesting things about this festival is that it basically kicks off with Norway's annual Oscar-like ceremony, The Amanda Awards...

Their awards calendar is thus basically half of one year and half of the current one so their nominees or winners include two Oscar players from least season (Flee and Worst Person in the World) and at least one film we hope will be an Oscar player next season (Everything Everywhere All at Once nominated in Foreign Film). The newer Norwegian films we're less familiar with but will get familiar as soon as we can. We still don't have word on what Norway's Oscar submission will be this year but a lot of these films won't be eligible since most came out in Norway before the eligibility window. 

The nominees and winners (★) and where you can watch them below

NORWEGIAN FILM

WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD

• The Innocents (Streaming on Shudder)
• ★ Worst Person in the World (Streaming on Hulu)
• The Burning Sea (Streaming on Hulu)

All three of these films are available here in the US. You already know the genius Worst Person in the World (which surely would have won the Oscar in a non-Drive My Car sweeping kind of year). The Innocents is a supernatural horror film about children with dark mysterious powers and The Burning Sea is a disaster thriller about an oil rig that explodes. 

FOREIGN FILM

• Flee (Denmark) - stream on Hulu
• ★ Everything Everywhere All at Once (US) - rentable online
• Dune (US/Canada) - stream on HBOMax

PEOPLE'S CHOICE AMANDA

• Three Wishes for Cinderella 
• ★ Worst Person in the World 
• The Burning Sea  
• Lange Flate Ballær III 
• The Trip (treaming on Netflix)

These are more mainstream films. The Trip is an action comedy, currently streaming on Netflix and stars Noomi Rapace and Aksel Hennie as a warring couple.

DIRECTOR

• Joachim Trier, Worst Person in the World
• ★ Eskil Vogt, The Innocents
• John Andreas Andersen, The Burning Sea 

LEAD ACTRESS  

• Kristine Kujath Thorp, The Burning Sea
• ★ Renate Reinsve,  Worst Person in the World
• Rakel Lenora Fløttum, Alva Brynsmo Ramstad & Mina Yasmin Bremseth Asheim, The Innocents

Yes, three child actors are recognized together for The Innocents, a supernatural thriller about little children revealing dark and mysterious powers when adults aren't looking. 

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

NOTHING TO LAUGH ABOUT

• Ellen Dorrit Petersen, Three Wishes for Cinderella  
• ★ Sara Khorami, Nothing to Laugh About
• Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, Everbody Hates Johan

Sara Khormani won for Nothing to Laugh About a dramedy about a comedian and his ex-girlfriend. Everybody Hates Johan is a comedy though we can't say we understand the plot even from synopses or who Bolsø Berdal plays.

Ellen Dorrit Petersen is a great actress (we're less familiar with the other women) with a really memorable look. She was the lead in the film Blind several years back and she plays one of the key mother roles in The Innocents this year. She's nominated in this riff on the Cinderella story in the evil stepmother role.

LEAD ACTOR

THE MIDDLE MAN

• Sam Ashraf,  The Innocents
• ★ Pål Sverre Hagen, The Middle Man 
• Thorbjørn Harr, Full Coverage 

The Middle Man is from famous Norwegian director Bent Hamer (O'Horten, Kitchen Stories) but it takes place in the US and is in English. Some of you will recognize Pål Sverre Hagen from the Oscar nominated Norwegian hit Kon-Tiki. He's also the lead of Everbody Hates Johan which is nominated in the parallel actress category.

Full Coverage is a dramedy about a dinner party where friends give up their phones and reveal their secrets. Some of you will recognize Thorbjørn Harr from recurring roles on two TV shows (Vikings, Younger)

SUPPORTING ACTOR

• Herbert Nordrum, Worst Person in the World
• ★ Anders Danielsen Lie, Worst Person in the World
• Jan Gunnar Røise, Full Coverage  

The two boyfriends from Worst Person faced off.

CHILDREN'S FILM

THREE WISHES FOR CINDERELLA

• CLUE: The Maltese Riddle
• ★ Three Wishes for Cinderella 

SCREENPLAY

• The Innocents -Eskil Vogt 
• ★ Worst Person in the World -Eskil Vogt and Joachim Trier
• Everbody Hates Johan - Erlend Loe

Eskil Vogt and Joachim Trier have co-written all of Joachim Trier's films together but Vogt occassionally does his own movies, too. His debut was Blind, a very good thriller/drama about a blind woman. And given that his second feature is The Innocents we're guessing that Trier's supernaturally-tinged Thelma (2017), his most atypical project was the one with the biggest Vogt influence!

CINEMATOGRAPHY

• ★ The Innocents -Sturla Brandth Grøvlen
• Everbody Hates Johan - Karl Erik Brøndbo
• The Middle Man - John Christian Rosenlund

COSTUME DESIGN

• The Middle Man - Amanda Lee Street  
• ★ Three Wishes for Cinderella - Flore Vauville 
• Everybody Hates Johan - Jenny Hilmo Teig

EDITING

• ★ The Innocents -Jens Christian Fodstad
• Worst Person in the World -Olivier Bugge Coutté 
• Young and Afraid - Christoffer Heie 

MAKEUP

• The Trip - Lois McIntosh and Maria Zahl
• Three Wishes for Cinderella - Asta Hafthorsdottir
• ★ Everybody Hates Johan - Asta Hafthorsdottir and Thomas Foldberg 

PRODUCTION DESIGN

• Burning Sea - Jørgen Stangebye Larsen
• Worst Person in the World - Roger Rosenberg 
• ★ The Middle Man - Diana Magnus

SOUND

• ★ The Innocents -Gisle Tveito and Gustaf Berger
• Burning Sea - Christian Schaanning 
• Worst Person in the World -Gisle Tveito 

MUSIC

• Worst Person in the World -Ola Fløttum 
• ★ Everybody Hates Johan - Jørund Fluge Samuelsen
• The Innocents -Pessi Levanto

DOCUMENTARY 

• ★ Young and Afraid (Director: Petter Aaberg and Sverre Kvamme)
• Be Here (Director: Ragnhild Nøst Bergem, Co-director: Erlend E. Mo)
• John: The Last Norwegian Cowboy (Director: Frode Fimland) 

Young and Afraid (which is also known as Nattebarn) is about a suicidal man and his friends. Be Here looks at three different people with dementia. John The Last Norwegian Cowboy is about a 92 year old Norwegian-American man who doesn't want to sell his land in Montana. 

VISUAL EFFECTS

• Worst Person in the World -Esben Syberg 
• ★ The Burning Sea - Theodor Flo-Groeneboom at Rebel Unit, Morten Jacobsen at Storm Studios, Lars Erik Hansen at Gimpville AS, Magnus Olsson at Filmgate and VFX supervisor Arne Kaupang
• The Innocents -Esben Syberg and Ludvig Friberg

SHORT FILM

• ★ Observation (Director and prod.: Christoffer Lossius) 
• The School by the Sea (Director: Solveig Melkeraaen, Prod.: Ingvil Giske) 
• Robin and the Planet (Director: Johan Kaos, Prod.: Gary Cranner) 

Comments

[Finbar McBride]

I will be surprised if The Burning Sea captures the Norway Oscar submission designation. This thriller is not unlike those bloated studio popcorn flicks (I.e. Armageddon and The Day After Tomorrow) that were popular at the turn of the century. A little science to explain an accelerated end of the world, a heroic figure who nobly sacrifices all for love, and some extended action that effectively builds tension in the viewer are the key components. Enjoyable and forgettable in equal parts.

[Score and Cinematography]

I nominated both boyfriends for my personal awards this year too. Loved Worst Person so I pulled what the Oscars did with The Power of The Dog and double dipped.