October 17 - Hans Petter Moland

 

Happy 65th Birthday, Hans Petter Moland! Born today in 1955, this Norwegian screenwriter and director has received awards for his commercials at major festivals, including Cannes, before he made his feature debut in the early 1990s. 

 
This was the 1993 Norwegian war/drama film 'Secondløitnanten' ('The Last Lieutenant'). Starring Norwegian actor of stage, screen and television Espen Skjønberg, the film was released in the United States with English subtitles. 

 
Two years later, Moland directed the film of which he is best known. This was the 1995 Norwegian drama film 'Kjærlighetens kjøtere' ('Zero Kelvin'). 

 
Set in the 1920s, the film tells of how, after Gertrude (Camilla Martens) turns down her fiancé's marriage proposal, the sensitive poet Henrik Larsen (Garb B. Eidsvold) becomes a fur trapper and is sent to East Greenland for one year.  

 
There, he inhabits a small, filthy cabin with the brutish veteran sailor/trapper Randbaæk (Stellan Skarsgård) and the bald, wily scientist Holm (Bjørn Sundquist).

Randbæk takes sadistic delight in taunting Larsen with graphic tales of his girlfriend's infidelities. 

 

Larsen, however, fails to realize that both of them are more similar to one another than either would like to admit. 

Tensions among the three men continue to mount until Holm, fed up, abandons the two to fend for themselves.  

Now, both must struggle to survive in the punishing, unforgiving conditions of the frigid wilderness either together or at each other's throats.  

Their sporadic conflict throughout the film is played out in isolation amidst stunningly bleak arctic scenery, filmed in Svalbard. This is a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean.

Moland was later well known for his collaboration and deep friendship with Skarsgård, having directed him in three films, this being the first.  

  

In the early 2000s, Moland directed the 2004 Norwegian/American drama/independent film 'The Beautiful Country'. The film starred Tim Roth and Nick Nolte, and was co-produced by Terrence Malick. 

 
The music was written by Polish film score composer Zbigniew Preisner, of whom was best known for his work with Polish film director and screenwriter Krzysztof Kieślowski ('The Decalogue', 'The Double Life of Veronique', 'The Three Colors Trilogy').

 

In the late 2010s, Moland made his Hollywood debut in directing a remake of his 2014 Norwegian action thriller/crime film 'Kraftidioten' ('In Order of Disappearance'). This was Moland's fourth collaboration with Skarsgård.

The remake was the 2019 American action/thriller film 'In Cold Pursuit', starring Liam Neeson in the Skarsgård role.

The film had its premiere in the competition section of the 64th Berlin Film Festival in February 2014.  

 

British film historian and author Peter Cowie once described Moland as "the Ridley Scott of Norway," for his directing hundreds of television commercials and winning awards at all of the major festivals of advertising films.

Moland has said, "Making movies is one long journey through a valley of compromises." 

 
Moland has been active 1993–present. 

 
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