Together (Sammen)

Year: 2009
Country: NORWAY
Run Time: 100 minutes

TOGETHER is a drama about the love that a father and son discover on their journey through a landscape of sorrow. Roger and Kristine are the parents of 12-year-old Pål. Roger's a know-it-all whose personality is tempered by Kristine's good humor. Pål is a quieter type, and Kristine often has to speak up for him. When Kristine is killed in a freak accident, father and son's lives are naturally turned upside down. TOGETHER is about their struggle to get by without the glue that held the family together. Suddenly realizing they haven't spent much time together, Roger and Pål can't seem to communicate. Even simple things like making meals are challenging. Roger becomes so bogged down by his grief that he ceases being able to take care of himself or his son. In desperation, he consigns him to the child welfare service. But Pål turns out to have a healthier reaction to the tragedy. Refusing to believe that they're no longer a family, he fights to get his father back. TOGETHER is a warm, hopeful film with flashes of bittersweet humor. It reminds us that love can hold us together when all else falls apart. (In Norwegian with subtitles) – B.B.

• Tweet