May 1421, 1998
movie shorts
Pal Sletaune's dark comedy of alienation has mood aplenty, as well as a great Norwegian karaoke rendition of "Born to be Wild." But the story of a lonely mailman (Robert Skjaerstad) whose obsession with a beautiful hearing-impaired woman (Andrine Saether) pulls him into a perilous, criminal world feels shaggy, despite its short length. There's a point-of-view problem as well; too much of our involvement rests on our identification with Roy's voyeuristic lust for the woman, and not enough on our perception of her own troubles.

