In addition to well navigating the sometimes dangerous territory between playful and melancholy, "Reprise" has succeeded in getting Joy Division's "New Dawn Fades" permanently stuck in my head.

The description in the SFIFF guide pitched the movie as a sort of tragic buddy movie, two friends learning that things weren't going to go as planned. I had two fears as I waited for the film to begin. First, that it would be entirely light-hearted and offer me nothing to make sense of the very similar situation I've found myself in (my best friends are currently living in Indiana, Florida, Colorado, and South Korea) and second that someone was going to commit suicide (not an option for me). Before the film began a presenter explained that, while technically "Reprise" was the first film from director Joachim Trier, he has made a lot of skate videos in his home country of Norway. My hopes were not lifted by this foreword, as I had hoped for something more insightful than Nordic youth wrestling with becoming middle-aged Peter Pans—an "SLC Punk" set in Oslo.

The first 5 minutes sketches an alternative plot, where everything goes right, before spending the remainder 100 minutes telling the story as it happened to go. The device is revisited multiple times in the film, giving us access into the hopes of the characters before we see the reality unfold. In this way, the film well captures both the idealism held by the youthful protagonists and makes us feel, not just watch, their disillusionment as nothing seems to go as expected. Even brilliant success is not quite what it's cracked up to be. My first fear, that the film would lack any depth in its stroytelling, was clearly unfounded.

The second, fear of suicide being the only way out, was harder to dispel. Obviously, I would tend to spoil the ending if I confirmed whether or not this fear was realized. Instead let me just say that the filmmaker and actors all do an excellent job of keeping the option on the table throughout the whole of the film. Mental breakdown, unnecessary risk, star-crossed lovers, professional envy, utter artistic disintegration—they're all there and their consequences are palpable to characters and audience alike. (I just used they're, there, and their in the same sentence.) Top it all off with an opening credits slow-motion scene awash in a booming Ian Curtis (see intro paragraph) shouting, "a loaded gun won't set you free/so you say" and you can sense the countdown.

Such depth of storytelling, real concern for the characters, and a healthy sprinkling of genuine humor make this a wholly wonderful film. Possibly the best review is contained within it. Talented author Erik, talking with his new publisher, discovers they share a favorite book. "It would've been a bestseller if it were written in English." It's got everything that made "Garden State" a hit, I'd even put Victoria Winge up against Natalie in the oh-too-cute-girl-next-door category.