Kunsten å tenke negativt (2006)

	Directed by: Bård Breien	COUNTRY Norway GENRE Comedy/Drama INTERNATIONAL TITLE The Art of Negative Thinking RUNNING TIME 79 minutes
	Produced by: Dag Alveberg
	Written by: Bård Breien

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Geirr	Fridtjov Såheim	½
Tori	Kjersti Holmen
Gard	Henrik Mestad	½
Marte	Marian Saastad Ottesen	½
Lillemor	Kari Simonsen	½
Ingvild	Kirsti Eline Torhaug	½
Asbjørn	Per Schaaning

Review

In Norway, as opposed to most other countries, the majority of feature films are made by a first-time director. With Kunsten å tenke negativt that fact is more apparent than one may want it to be. A general idea is that first-timers bring freshness and new ideas to the medium. And Bård Breien opens his film with some delightful comedy, mocking classic group therapy, satirizing a society that he claims overfocuses on mental health and well-being to the point of counterproductiveness. His characters are amusing, ranging from the utterly spineless Gard (Henrik Mestad) to the explosively destructive Geirr (Fridtjov Såheim), which gives the film an edgy, raw quality early on. Breien shows poignancy in a few down-to-earth reflections on the challenges of being disabled or paralysed. He is no Alejandro Amenábar, but the film has dramatic effect. Unfortunately, the young filmmaker isn't quite able to maintain his command throughout, and Kunsten å tenke negativt ultimately slides into a pulpy, unfocused finale in which every character acts according to the same pattern, before they all come to the same conclusion – which really isn't much more of a conclusion than you can read from the title.