(2006; Norwegian) Counting backward from ten … Best friends and aspiring novelists in their early 20s, Phillip Reisnes (Anders Danielsen Lie) and Erik Høiaas (Espen Klouman Høiner), simultaneously post in the same mail drop their manuscripts. A narrator considers the clichéd possibilities of their future as cult-classic authors if both were to get published.

Nine … Phillip's work, Phantom Images, accepted becomes a book; Erik accepts as confirmation his lack of talent when his manuscript's returned. Eight … Disjointedly directed and co-written (with Eskil Vogt) by Joachim Trier. Seven … Following a romantic holiday in Paris with Kari Brekke (Viktoria Winge), whose previous boyfriend had been rockstar Rune of the punk band Kommune, Phillip is convinced it's "no coincidence we met."

Six … months later, Erik and three of their friends (Geir, Morten, and Lars) drive Phillip home from the hospital where he'd been after suffering from psychosis triggered by his obsession with Kari. Five … Taking Phillip's advice to revise his story, Erik resends his manuscript, Prosopopeia (having theme of madness as the "absolute language"), this time getting an acceptance. Four … Admirers from childhood of the reclusive writer Sten Egil Dahl, Erik and Phillip attempt to make his acquaintance, but when Erik has the opportunity of shaking hands with his idol, Mathis Wergeland ("the imbecile") instead of Phillip is with him.

Three … As a published writer, Erik thinks he should break off his three-year relationship with Lillian to focus on reading and writing rather than a girlfriend, on listening to stimulating music, being with interesting people, and experiencing deviant sex; but a childhood memory of being a bully toward another boy dissuades him. Two … Phillip, no longer burning with a desire to write (recycling other writers), buys tickets for Kari and himself to fly to Paris on the same day of the year as their previous sojourn in an attempt to start over, taking a photograph of her in a pose similar as before.

One … After a wild party (where Ingred and Geir get it on in the bathroom), Phillip goes to the telemarketing office to tell Kari he's finally feeling "in synch," while Lillian informs Erik of her opinion that he's a "damn cliché." Zero … Leaving Oslo on a jet plane, Erik, needing to get away from family and friends if he's to compose another work of fiction, imagines what will happen to the people he knows and himself in the near future.

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Copyright © 2009 Patrick Ivers. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

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