"Out Stealing Horses" wins Norway's Top Film Prizes
Sunday, August 18, 2019 at 9:00AM
NATHANIEL R in Norway, Oscars (19), Out Stealing Horses, Scandinavia, Stellan Skarsgård, WW II

by Nathaniel R

Out Stealing Horses

You may recall that when we posted our April Foolish Oscar predictions we suggested that the Norwegian film Out Stealing Horses could well compete for the Best International Film Oscar. That was a blind call based solely on its pedigree (a lush adaptation of a best-seller with a known director) since a) we hadn't seen the picture, b) Norway hadn't submitted it, and c) there weren't many industry reactions yet. Those things are still true save the latter which is now emphatically untrue. It's obviously well liked since it just took the top prize at Norway's annual Amanda Awards. Early critical reaction via Berlinale in February was also positive. 

More about the Amanda Awards and that film after the jump...

Best Norwegian Film in Theatrical Release

Harajuku is about a teenager whose mother gets into an accident and she has to contact her father who she does not have a relationship with. (The title comes from the fact that she wants to run away to Tokyo). The Quake is an earthquake thriller (the marketing campaign compared it directly to the Norwegian action-thriller hit The Wave. Interestingly enough the director of The Quake has spent most of his career as a cinematographer and he shot The Congo Murders which was up for several Amanda Awards as well though not Best Film.

The winner, Out Stealing Horses, is set in two time frames. The latter time frame  involves a widower (Stellan Skarsgård) and a chance encounter and the earlier time frame is his youth during the Nazi occupation of Norway in World War II.The movie is from Hans Petter Moland who previously directed Stellan Skarsgârd in A Somewhat Gentleman, In Order of Disappearance, and Aberdeen. 

Best Children’s Film


Children's film in Europe and Scandinavia are generally much more sophisticated than American "children's films". It also won the screenplay award for its director Martin Lund 

Best Director

Best Actress

Blind Spot, a drama about mental illness, was shortlisted for Norway's Oscar submission last season but wasn't sent. The White Swan is that biopic about the ice-skater and movie star Sonja Henie that we mentioned years ago before they actually made it. 

Best Actor

Best Actor rivals Tobias Santelmann and Jon Ranes play father and son in Out Stealing Horses

Jon Ranes is a teenage actor and plays the young version of Stellan Skarsgard during the World War II era scenes. The winner Tobias Santelmann you might remember purely from his utter deliciousness as the hottest man on the raft in Norway's Oscar nominee Kon-Tiki or from his regular role in the TV series The Last Kingdom. Funnily enough he also plays the father to Best Actor rival Jon Ranes, right here, in Out Stealing Horses.

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

Maria Bonnevie in Phoenix

 

Bonnevie is a critical darling /  star in Norway and plays a mentally unstable but loving mother in this family drama. This is her second win from five nominations.

Best Actor in a Supporting Role

Elder Skar (laughing) with Ine Marie Willamson as Sonja Henie in "The White Swan"

Out Stealing Horses reunites Floberg with Skarsgård. He plays his neighbor in the drama (who he also knew as a child in flashbacks, though they're played by younger actors then of course). Floberg and Skarsgård were co-stars in the Norwegian hit Insomnia, which was of course remade in English by Christopher Nolan (but we like the original better). 

 

Best Screenplay

Best Cinematography

 

Best Production Design

Best Visual Effects

 

Best Score

 

 

Best Editing

Harajuku

Best Sound Design

 

Best Short Film

 

Best Documentary

Best Foreign Film in Theatrical Release


This is quite a coup for Capernaum, such a good film. We're pleased it did so well last year everywhere.

The People’s Amanda

 

 

The Amanda Committee’s Golden Clapper

 

 

The Amanda Committee Honorary Award

 

 

Finally, we should note that Norway doesn't send the Amanda winner even 50% of the time. Of their past 20 submissions only 7 were Amanda winners. So there's still a chance they dont send Out Stealing Horses, but we think in this case that they will. 

 

 

Article originally appeared on The Film Experience (http://thefilmexperience.net/).
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