Director: Viljar Bøe
Year: 2025
Country: Norway
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Psychological
Plot:
Living with his girlfriend, a man is haunted by the incessant notion that he has to cut off his leg above the knee, which is such an obsession that it starts to affect not only his relationship with his girlfriend but all those around him, and he tries to make sense of the haunting visions.
Review:
This was a generally misguided and underwhelming effort without much going for it. The fact that so much of the film is set up to make sure the accident happens and the series of egregious actions that take place, ensuring that will come to pass, might make for an intriguing concept, but it’s just woefully overlong in execution. There are scores of scenes here featuring him wandering around in such a state, whether at work with his boss or hanging out with friends, talking about doing this, that it just ends up taking forever before something happens. Without even knowing the intent behind it, why this is so important, or even how he plans to keep going once everything has happened leading up to the fateful incident, it just feels like we’re following this crazed, unstable individual suffering from a genuinely unnerving condition without any rhyme or reason, and instead of generating sympathy it feels more like someone who should be in a mental asylum being looked over rather than being out in society.
Even worse, without that kind of foundation behind it, since this is such a bizarre and unfamiliar disorder being depicted, the singular-guided notion of going through with the procedure and actually cutting his leg off has no stakes to it. Rather than dive into how this occurred or why he feels this way, which it easily could’ve done, being as short as it is, this just makes for a single-minded exercise towards the inevitable, so there’s little intrigue about everything. Seeing him get the type of treatment he does here to stay on track and pull it off makes for a somewhat disappointing time, not enduring any kind of safety net is established, keeping him from hurting himself, and it makes the outcome far less satisfying and impactful than expected. The experience is gruesome enough and has some shocking imagery from time to time, especially as he gets closer to actually attempting to pull it off, as there are some shocking moments here of the various attempts to fulfill his wishes, but that’s really all this has going for it.
Overview: */5
A misguided and generally unappealing overlong thriller, this one comes off rather weakly, as despite the intriguing premise of this one making for what could’ve been a fun time, it is frustrating more than anything. Give it a shot if you’re a fan of this style or aren’t bothered by its flaws, while most others out there should heed extreme caution.
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