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World Fantastic Cinema

Jonny Vang

Jens Lien

Norway2003 85min 35mm Color

Synopsis

Jonny, Magnus, and Tuva grew up together in a small farming town. Tuva married Magnus, but cheats on him with his best friend Jonny. The three friends are intertwined like this. With the dream of striking it rich with a worm farm, he gets hit in the head with a shovel, becomes a target of a stray bullet, and when he finally gets the worm farm, it falls apart. His misfortune doesn’t stop there. His stepfather leaves all of a sudden and his mother, who goes after him, gets into a car accident. The car bought for the worm farming business gets totaled and the farm faces foreclosure. Not being able to take it anymore, Jonny leaves for Oslo. All of these misfortunes take a 180 turn when he meets a mysterious man with an axe. Although this film is set on the plains of Norway, it somehow has a feel of a western. The townsfolk gathered in the club, Johnny walking into the club with a gun, the sheriff straight out Dodge City, and the music all reminds the audience of a western. Centered around one episode, the film is one of those that focuses on the story, rather than the characters. (LEE Byung-hee)

Diretor

Jens Lien

Born in 1967, studied directing at the London International Film School (1990-1993). His short film Shut the Door premiered at Cannes Film Festival in 2000. Lien returned to Cannes in 2001, when his short film Natural Glasses, premiered there. His first feature film, Jonny Vang, premiered in the Panorama section of the Berlin International Film Festival in February 2003.