Review: Thelma
Blu-ray & DVD: Thelma (2017)
Now and again a movie will appear out of the blue and completely enthral you. Thelma was such a movie for me.
Beginning with Thelma as a 6 year old child out hunting in the Nordic snow with her father, he slowly turns his rifle away from the deer that is in his sights, to the back of his daughters head. When the deer is suddenly startled, he resentfully lowers his weapon.
What is happening? Why does he want to kill his daughter? These are questions that spring to mind within the initial few minutes of viewing. These questions and many more will be going through your mind as the twisting and surreal narrative leaves you feeling as though you have just experienced a particularly mind altering lucid dream.
To give too much (or any!) of the plot away of Thelma would be to completely spoil it, suffice it to say that the unexpected should be expected at all times.
Eili Harboe is mesmerising as Thelma, bringing an ethereal quality to her existence that at once gives her the illusion of vulnerability, while also hinting at a stronger and more visceral personality hidden within her psyche. Her character arc plays out in increments, with each advancement clearly being portrayed with such subtleties as the minutest change of facial expressions.
Director and co-writer Joachim Trier has crafted a visual and auditory delight, which takes you through the gamut of emotions while you watch the ever twisting narrative slowly unfurl before you.
A single shot of hair on glass had me gasping, while a sequence which culminates on an ice covered lake had me realising that I’d been inadvertently holding my breath, with the final shot of that sequence hitting me in the gut like a physical punch and expelling the air which I’d previously been withholding.
Slowly revealing its mysteries during its entire 2 hour running time, Thelma is a movie that demands (and deserves) your complete attention while watching…no ‘2nd screening’ during this please!
If you enjoyed the likes of Another Earth, and enjoy movies that are intellectually deeper and visually more beautiful than most of the ‘chewing gum for the eyes’ CGI spectaculars that play at your local multi-screen cinema, then Thelma is definitely the movie for you.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Thelma will be released on 26th February 2018 and you can buy it by clicking HERE. ALL money raised by purchasing from Amazon via our website is given back to our listeners and followers in upcoming competition prizes. The more people buy, the bigger our prizes.
Review by Dave (host of 60 Minutes With) from a disc kindly supplied by Thunderbird Releasing.
