Reprise

What’s your favourite film of the last couple of years? Well, whatever it was, imagine you’d been waiting for what felt like forever for it to be released on DVD but then found out it was released in literally the laziest fashion possible. A barebones, non-anamorphic release with no special features, a ton of trailers before you even get to the main menu, nothing in the case other than the disc and, absurdly, burned-in subtitles that are so inexpertly done they occasionally cut the ends of words off. If you’ve managed to imagine all that, now imagine my dismay to find that this is exactly what has happened to my favourite film of the last couple of years: Joachim Trier’s masterful Reprise, winner of the Discovery award when it played at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival (and rightly so). Though Reprise has been given a release that’s arguably of poorer quality than a DVD you could pick up in Chinatown for five bucks, I absolutely can’t let that stand in the way of my recommendation that you purchase this as soon as possible. The film begins with Erik (Espen Klouman Høiner) and Phillip (Anders Danielsen Lie), two aspiring writers, as they pause before placing their manuscripts into a mailbox. Before you have time to breathe, the film rushes through a lifetime of what they imagine and hope could happen, a lifetime of clichéd brilliance that’s not to be. Seconds later the film returns to the moment — Joy Division’s "New Dawn Fades” kicks in and the "real” sequence of events begins. Reprise is a powerful film about the joys and sorrows of youthful ambition, and how the events of life can change beyond what you’ve planned. This is no tired "coming of age” piece; the narrative skips between crystallised moments of the past and present with a deft touch and a powerful soundtrack. Watching this DVD was my third viewing of the film and it remains as fresh as the first; it is a film that rewards multiple viewings. Buy this and treasure it, at least until someone with sense releases the high-quality DVD edition this film deserves.