Itonje Søimer Guttormsen’s feature debut traces the story of a troubled young woman on the outside of outsider art
Before it dissolves out into a watery sort of nothingness, this feature debut from Norwegian director Itonje Søimer Guttormsen is an intriguing and subversive docu-type drama about the nature of creativity and how modern-day equivalents of the avant gardist Antonin Artaud might expect to be treated. Birgitte Larsen plays Gry-Jeanette Dahl, who goes by the name “Gritt”. She is a troubled, intense young woman, trying to break into experimental theatre and radical performance artforms, and basically in the unhappy position of being on the outside of outsider art.
As the film begins, Gritt has managed to fluke her way to New York, part of a grant-funded Norwegian theatre company; she is employed as the emotional support person for Marte (Marte Wexelsen Goksøyr), a writer-performer with Down’s. Gritt affects a...
Before it dissolves out into a watery sort of nothingness, this feature debut from Norwegian director Itonje Søimer Guttormsen is an intriguing and subversive docu-type drama about the nature of creativity and how modern-day equivalents of the avant gardist Antonin Artaud might expect to be treated. Birgitte Larsen plays Gry-Jeanette Dahl, who goes by the name “Gritt”. She is a troubled, intense young woman, trying to break into experimental theatre and radical performance artforms, and basically in the unhappy position of being on the outside of outsider art.
As the film begins, Gritt has managed to fluke her way to New York, part of a grant-funded Norwegian theatre company; she is employed as the emotional support person for Marte (Marte Wexelsen Goksøyr), a writer-performer with Down’s. Gritt affects a...
- 12/20/2021
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
The most fascinating element of Itonje Søimer Guttormsen’s strong feature debut “Gritt” is the way the director presents a problematic character who polarizes viewers. For some, Gritt (Birgitte Larsen) will be seen as a passionately creative woman whose inability to break into the alternative performance community leads her to make some very bad choices — when her free-thinking approach is stifled, she’s denied an outlet and does some foolish things. Others however will have a different take: Gritt is a troubled woman who appropriates half-ideas she’s unable to fully process, and it’s her self-centered fixation on being an outsider that leads to a serious betrayal of those around her.
, and the way the film leaves open the possibility of interpretation makes it an ideal festival entry. Søimer Guttormsen and Larsen first began exploring this character in the 2016 short “Retrett,” which is likely why Gritt feels so fully-formed,...
, and the way the film leaves open the possibility of interpretation makes it an ideal festival entry. Søimer Guttormsen and Larsen first began exploring this character in the 2016 short “Retrett,” which is likely why Gritt feels so fully-formed,...
- 2/1/2021
- by Jay Weissberg
- Variety Film + TV
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