SIFF: Trollhunter
The truth is out there. We've known it since Scully and Mulder first hit our living room screens, and now we discover that it's a truth the Norwegians are learning as well. In Trollhunter (click through to see the trailer, well worth watching), three college kids take their camera, sound equipment and their investigative zeal off into the wilderness to find a poacher who's been hunting bears and leaving their carcasses all over the region. After doggedly following the alleged poacher, they discover the truth: He's the government's only troll hunter. Trolls are real, and tromp the Norwegian landscape nightly.
As the SIFF description says, the movie owes as much to The Blair Witch Project in terms of look and feel as it does to The X Files with regard to the idea of a secret government agency cover-up. But it's got a sly wit that makes it just plain fun (and indeed, as SIFF says, a little reminiscent of Scooby Doo). When Hans, the hunter, comes careening out of the forest yelling "Trollllll!" and the audience bursts into laughter, you're aware that it's a deliberate effect and it just tickled me. The great strength of the movie is that all its actors play it straight, taking it all very seriously, which heightens the humor and lets you know that they're in on the joke. Especially good is Otto Jesperen as the beleaguered troll hunter, who works alone and without hazard pay, drenched in troll stink, and living out of a ratty camper. He puts his heart into his work. There's plenty of troll lore in the film, some of it presented by a scientist helping Hans to figure out why the trolls are straying from their usual territories.
The movie had a full house last night, and I don't think it's inaccurate to say that everyone had a good time. The audience burst into enthusiastic applause when the credits rolled. We all had a blast.
As the SIFF description says, the movie owes as much to The Blair Witch Project in terms of look and feel as it does to The X Files with regard to the idea of a secret government agency cover-up. But it's got a sly wit that makes it just plain fun (and indeed, as SIFF says, a little reminiscent of Scooby Doo). When Hans, the hunter, comes careening out of the forest yelling "Trollllll!" and the audience bursts into laughter, you're aware that it's a deliberate effect and it just tickled me. The great strength of the movie is that all its actors play it straight, taking it all very seriously, which heightens the humor and lets you know that they're in on the joke. Especially good is Otto Jesperen as the beleaguered troll hunter, who works alone and without hazard pay, drenched in troll stink, and living out of a ratty camper. He puts his heart into his work. There's plenty of troll lore in the film, some of it presented by a scientist helping Hans to figure out why the trolls are straying from their usual territories.
The movie had a full house last night, and I don't think it's inaccurate to say that everyone had a good time. The audience burst into enthusiastic applause when the credits rolled. We all had a blast.