O’HORTEN ON DVD SEPTEMBER 22, 2009

July 13, 2009 by J!-ENT

Culver City, CA (July 13, 2009) –An Official Selection at both the 2008 Cannes Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival, O’Horten will be released on DVD on September 22, 2009 from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. O’Horten was written and directed by Bent Hamer and stars Bard Owe. This quirky film about a train engineer forced to retire after 40 years on the job, delighted critics with its subtle mixture of comedy and melancholy. Lisa Schwartzbaum of Entertainment Weekly stated “I was grateful for every unexpected, sideways moment of deadpan charm,” while Screen Daily’s Mike Goodridge raved, “Hamer’s unique blend of absurdist humour and aching melancholy has never worked better.” The Sony Pictures Classics film will be available for an SLP of $28.96 for DVD. Special features on the DVD will include an interview with Director Bent Hamer and Composer John Erik Kaada.

Synopsis

The moment the train leaves the station without engineer Odd Horten (Bard Owe) aboard, he realizes that the path ahead is a journey without printed timetables and well-known stations. Horten has been forced to retire after 40 years of traveling a very stable rail, and the platform does not feel like a safe place anymore. His orderly, solitary existence is about to give way to a future of unlikely adventures and puzzling dilemmas: will Horten ever travel by plane? Will he finally sell his prized boat? How does Horten end up in a pair of women’s red high-heeled shoes? Will he survive a nightmare drive with a blindfolded man at the wheel? O’Horten is Bent Hamer’s wonderfully skewed view of the human condition, and gives us that somewhat absurdist vision with great warmth, a little melancholy and universal appeal.

DVD BONUS FEATURES INCLUDE:

§ Interview with Director Bent Hamer and Composer John Erik Kaada

O’Horten was written and directed by Bent Hamer. Produced by Bent Hamer, Jim Frazee, Mads Peter Ole Olsen, Christoph Friedel, Karl Baumgartner and Alexandre Mallet-Guy. Starring Bard Owe.