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Poster for O'Horten

O'Horten

2007 · 1h 30m · PG-13 Comedy, Drama
Directed by Bent Hamer

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Overview

Odd Horton is dependable and contained: he's a train driver retiring after 40 years of service, living a simple life. His idea of adventure is to fly from one city in Norway to another. Starting on the night of his retirement dinner, Odd has a series of dislocating experiences: a boy insists that Odd sit by his bedside while he falls asleep; misadventure causes Odd to miss his last run; he witnesses an arrest; he assists an old man and makes a friend; he takes a trip with a blindfolded driver; he adopts a dog; he takes stock late one night at the roundhouse; he revisits his mother's disappointment in him. How should he live the rest of his life?

Director and cast

Critics on Rotten Tomatoes

Top critics, in their words

All reviews
91%
Tomatometer
Fresh

It's a film whose pleasures come slowly, as we, like the title character, discover the joys he's missed. Best of all, we, like Odd the Norwegian bachelor, figure out it is never too late to start living.

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel
Fresh

Hamer creates a quirky, beguiling, and very funny mood piece that reflects on age, adventure, uncertainty, and humanity. Owe gives the character of Horten an off-center dignity that will suggest comparisons to Jacques Tati and Buster Keaton

Jonathan F. Richards, Film.com
Fresh

The whimsy is never overplayed. The peculiar isn't teased at any character's expense.

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post
Fresh

This yarn about a train conductor whose life goes off track is Nordic to its bones: efficient, humane and droll in small measures.

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Fresh

Thanks to the consistent deadpan tone that Hamer and Owe establish, it's oddly satisfying.

John Hartl, Seattle Times

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