Review: Utoya - July 22

All I knew about this film was it being based on the attacks in Norway a few years ago. I knew a bit about this story from the news. But I didn't know about the details. So I was certainly intrigued to see how this would turn out.

The whole film is done in one-take, which reminded me of Spanish film Victoria from a few years ago. That alone is an impressive feat as it must be quite tricky to execute. It's almost like those soap operas that do live episodes.

It starts off with some solid character development and gave us some nice character moments that already had me impressed with the young cast.

Then as the chaos began, its realism has to be commended. You could feel the fear in the characters faces and the constant confusion gave it a great mystery even though you pretty much know what's  happening. There is also aa brutall emotional scene as we head towards the final act.

I have to mention that there were moments that for me lingered too much. But I guess with it being in one-take, you would naturally get a bit of a lull at times.

As mentioned before, the kids did a good job with their performances. Andrea Berntzen was great in the lead role. Despite not being given much dialogue, it was all about the facial emotions that gave her quite a presence that carried the film really well.

I also have to give props to Solveig Koloen Birkeland who's one scene was nothing but scene-stealing.

I feel the films biggest strength is it's style. I was a bit sceptical with the shaky camerawork at first. But it wasn't until the final scene that made me feel that it reflected the confusion of the characters and it made us as the viewer feel as confused with certain dramatic moments.

I also thought the decision of showing little-to-no screen-time of the antagonist was a bold choice, but the right one. They effectively went for the Jaws approach.

In conclusion, I felt this to be a pretty good watch. I liked the way they built-up the tension, the constantly chaotic vibe and the good performances.

The moments when effectively nothing was happening did detract the flow and my attention. However, had they improved that, it would've probably meant to have lost the one-take gimmick. So this wasn't a major negative. This is still a worthwhile watch as it manages to drop you into that moment in time which certainly felt quite a tense and terrifying one.

Rating: 7/10