Aberdeen
"Beautifully acted, ferociously observant!" -New York Times
Kaise (Lena Headey), a beautiful and feisty Scottish woman, finally has her life together... at least until her mother (Charlotte Rampling) asks an enormous favor: to bring back to her Kaisa's estranged, larger-than-life father (Stellan Skarsgard). The two of them, father and daughter together, set out on a wild, brutally funny yet heartbreaking journey, which takes them through their emotional past before reaching their ultimate destination.
Member Reviews
As a person in Alanon... You can only help YOURSELF! - movie_goer
A Frank Father- Daughter drama. well acted but i hated the storyline it was pointless, strange and just tidious to watch after a while!
You know how the story goes... An addicte will never change his/her stripes, BUT people around them take the liberty of trying to "help". Theres no solution or a simple fix. I can personally relate and sympathize with Kaisa. Who I believe should have just walked away while she still had the chance. Watching Aberdeen left me exausted, annoyed and frustrated.excellent performances, in drawn out film - myob
Aberdeen tries to follow the long Scandanavian tradition of dark, moody profiles of family relationships, made so famous by guys like Bergman. The performances of Lena Headey and Stellan Skarsgard as the feuding daughter and father are both top-notch, making the hatred between each other quite disturbing and painful to watch. They are also magnificent in transitioning emotionally through the film as the father starts to straighten himself out and gain a modicum of self respect, and the daughter spirals into greater and greater depths of self destruction. Ian Hart also deserves mention for his much needed grounding performance as the reluctant "boy friend" to Kaisa.
The film does suffer though, in its rather protracted dark sequences. Since the father and daughter can't really have a heart to heart, the film had to keep coming up with adventures for them, to force interaction, and this did get rather tiresome as you really just wanted them to get to the hospital and have the revelation with the mother.
It takes a work of some genius to make repellant characters watchable for that length of time and this didn't quite have it.
This is a film not for the casual film watcher, but for those that really enjoy great performances.Brilliantly Done! A Gem! More People Need To Watch... - Cogz
While movies about the mother-daughter relationship & journey have been depicted numerous times but as far as my memory serves me, I haven't seen or come across a movie about a father-daughter relationship depicted with such raw, tragic & heart-wrenching yet deeply moving and realistic (not to forget, hopeful!) perspective. Lena Headey's Kaiza is performed with such perfection, you can't help but believe the character. Headey's flawless Scottish accent is unbelievable. Stellan Skarsgaad - a true dramatic actor to the core! The story arc is about a daughter getting a call from her mum one day asking her to bring back her dad from Norway. The relationship between Kaisa and her dad is non-existent. But at her mum's request, she has to get her dad to return to Aberdeen to see her. The core of the story is relationship between Kaisa and her dad, from a broken one, slowly being mended along the way on their road trip back to Aberdeen all the way from Norway. But nothing is easy. Kaisa's dad is a hopeless/helpless drunk. Kaisa has to take care of him all the time - even the a point where in one scene, her dad collapses while pee-ing with his pants down & Kaisa tries, without any success, to pull him up & put his pants back on! That scene is one of the most gripping and gut-wrenching to watch because Kaisa finally has to put her dad to jail overnight because he's basically sucked her life out of her by that point.
Brilliant performance by Lena Headey & Stellan Skarsgaard. Truly superb and convincing. A gem of a drama rarely seen on the silver screen. It's most unfortunate that when it was released in 2001, there wasn't much marketing and promotion done on it. It truly deserves recognition not only in the indie world of filmmaking but also in the mainstream as well. Can't understand why it wasn't released in the UK widely!!!
Lena Headey is one Brit actor to watch out for. Her ability to transform into different roles shows her versatility and acting talent.
Member Reviews
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As a person in Alanon... You can only help YOURSELF! - movie_goer
A Frank Father- Daughter drama. well acted but i hated the storyline it was pointless, strange and just tidious to watch after a while!
You know how the story goes... An addicte will never change his/her stripes, BUT people around them take the liberty ...excellent performances, in drawn out film - myob
Aberdeen tries to follow the long Scandanavian tradition of dark, moody profiles of family relationships, made so famous by guys like Bergman. The performances of Lena Headey and Stellan Skarsgard as the feuding daughter and father are both top-notch, making ...Brilliantly Done! A Gem! More People Need To Watch... - Cogz
While movies about the mother-daughter relationship & journey have been depicted numerous times but as far as my memory serves me, I haven't seen or come across a movie about a father-daughter relationship depicted with such raw, tragic & heart-wrenching yet ...