The Rules for Everything (2017) Online

I wanted to like this film, as I think much of Hiorthøy's creative output is interesting, but I just could not relate to this movie in any way. The acting was good, as far as I can tell. And I did like how he experimented with the visuals. Of the stories told, the one with the girl that goes to job interviews was quite alright. But that's as far as I can go on thing I liked about this movie. That said: it does seem that many people relate to it on some level, and that I am the exception here. So if you're reading this before seeing the movie, remember that it might still be right up your alley.

The premise this movie is based on is given away in the beginning: there are rules for everything. That is, rules in a big sense, including "criterias" and anything unwritten. The narrator is a child, who is trying to make sense of the world around her and all of these rules (in a sense). But we also see adults struggling with the same thing. That's about how deep it goes. All of the movie relates to this in some way, but does not really expand upon that central premise. I thought it was interesting as the movie started, but by the time the movie was over it had managed to make it completely uninteresting (to me).

I think the performances in this movie is good, but many of the situations and the dialogue they are performing is also, well, with little substance. And this is a movie that tries to give of the impression that it's loaded with meaning. It's like that the ambition is "I want this to be this kind of movie" instead of "I want this to be a movie that raises these questions".

(There's also some odd decisions in editing. There's a scene near the end of the movie where one character faces his fear. But it seems like the movie is intent on the audience understanding what the result of this will be, instead of letting it surprise the audience.) Hiorthøy is creative and talented, and some of the ideas in this movie are good. It's just the final package that really did nothing for me, despite others watching it clearly having a good time.