IMDb > Naboer (2005) > IMDb user comments

IMDb user comments for
Naboer (2005) More at IMDbPro »

Filter: Hide Spoilers:
Page 1 of 4:[1] [2] [3] [4] [Next]
Index 31 comments in total 

18 out of 19 people found the following review useful:
Go Next Door for a Fun Trip into Film Noir and Horror - Great Movie!, 18 April 2006
8/10
Author: Maddis from United States

Naboer tells the story of John, having recently been left by his girlfriend, he retreats into self imposed isolation in his somewhat claustrophobic apartment. As the story unfolds (some parts in flashback) John is approached by his alluring neighbor who seduces/drags him into an underworld of sadism and mysterious undercurrents of retribution for something John does not yet understand. Definitely unique in it's storytelling, Naboer treads on well told paths of scorned women terrorizing unsuspecting man, adding it's own twist which is sure to leave you replaying the movie in your mind.

Naboer is like a full bodied wine who's bouquet unfolds slowly in your mouth and just when you thought you had it figured, the aftertaste hits your senses and shocks you into the realization of what you have really been drinking. I have to admit that there were times, even when I had the movie figured it out, that I was concerned it would turn into a patronizing "gee see how we fooled ya!" moment. However, the director pulled it off. With a clever blend of atmosphere and suspense, the movie relies less on your powers of observation and strives more to tickle your senses and ultimately leave you with an uneasy, somewhat grotesque feeling as it winds to a close. Rather than slowly drag out the ending, he drops it right on your head and then allows the explanation to seep slowly from the screen making an all too simple answer seem unbelievably full bodied and satisfying.

The kicker to this film is the incredible 112 minute running time! Had this dragged out for another hour, no doubt this would have left a sour taste. Instead you are thoroughly engrossed in the pace and momentum and knowing that the film must race to reach it's conclusion only heightens the anticipation and elevates the sense of closure.

I would compare this film certainly to Polanski in it's sense of style and cinematography, but also to Christopher Nolan's Memento in the way that it delivers a one-two punch desert after a very satisfying meal.

The acting is superb with a stand out performance by Kristoffer Joner, making an unlikable protagonist compelling and empathetic. The rest of the cast is fantastic and quite realistic playing some very tense, scary and perverse characters.

See it, experience it, and then look forward to more of what this director has to offer.

Maddis 8/10

Was the above comment useful to you?

20 out of 25 people found the following review useful:
Thumbs up, 2 October 2005
8/10
Author: birgmann from Iceland

I saw this film yesterday, at the second Reykjavík International Film Festival, and I did not know what to expect. It is the third movie from the Norwegian director Pål Sletaune. In 1998 Variety pronounced him one of the ten most promising directors worldwide. I knew this was a psychological thriller with strong sexual undertone, and that is definitely what it is. Wow!!! I was amazed. This film is a shocker! At this one scene my wife said she almost had to vomit!!! After this scene she had to watch the film through her fingers. The performance of Kristoffer Joner (leading actor) is excellent. This is one of the best films I have seen this year. Not for softies.

Was the above comment useful to you?

17 out of 21 people found the following review useful:
Agree with other reviewer that this is very good, 11 April 2005
Author: Atavisten from Tellus

and I quite liked the music, but I didn't know the composer. One to check out to be sure. Like the other reviewer I would compare it to Polanski, I kept thinking about 'The Tenant' watching this. The atmosphere are a bit of the same, claustrophobic and strange. We don't know whats going on in there, but it sure doesn't feel right. That said, the script isn't all original, but its still a very good take on it.

Actors are well chosen and did it very well. The two girls in particular create some really uncomfortable situations and are a great team. Kristoffer Joner is an excellent actor also and does a fine job here. The Swede deserves a mention as well.

Director Pål Sletaune is one to watch. He is soon changing status for me from talented to a very good director. The future of Norwegian film looks very bright.

It has some very minor flaws which you barely notice as the movie speeds away.

Was the above comment useful to you?

13 out of 15 people found the following review useful:
Unusually Erotic Horror Thriller... From the Land of Black Metal, 3 December 2006
8/10
Author: Gavin Schmitt (gavin6942@yahoo.com) from Kaukauna, Wisconsin

John, who has recently been left by his girlfriend, is lured into his next door neighbors' apartment. Inside he finds two women (who claim to be attractive, but this is debatable), a seduction and some of the most bizarre mind-bending you'll see in a film (Norwegian or otherwise).

For some reason this film is translated as "Next Door" when the word "naboer" means "neighbor", but I guess literal translations aren't the thing. I mean, the movie "Mark of the Devil" is originally in German and means something like "Witches Bleeding, Tortured To Death"... so, hey, I guess Americans can call movies whatever they want.

"An homage to Roman Polanski with nods to David Lynch," says Variety. I don't know enough about Polanski's work to really comment on that, but the Lynch connection is clear. There are many occasions in this film where it is unclear whether the main character is delusional or sane. Although, the difference is this: in a Lynch film, you are left to come up with your own theory, while here the situation is cleared up satisfactorily.

I really enjoyed this movie. It played out really slow, but in such a way that the "Reveal" was well-paced and we were only given enough hints to keep going along while getting hungrier for more (like a carrot on a stick). Any slower and it would have lost me, any faster and it would be a short film.

Personally, I found certain scenes to be highly erotic and incredibly sexy. This might be just me, since the scenes also contain excessive violence. Should violence be sexy? I don't know, but in this case I was rather taken by the presentation. Like "Jenifer" which I just watched, the film blends the disgusting with the beautiful -- with surprising results.

This will not appeal to everyone. The film is certainly "bizarre" and the movie is subtitled, which some will not enjoy. But if you like David Lynch or have a craving for something you're not likely to find in your average film, this is the film for you. (Note: the film is considered "horror" and has horror elements, but I'd sooner put it under "suspense".)

Was the above comment useful to you?

10 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
Shocking and disturbing... but you can't move your eyes away, 25 June 2006
10/10
Author: Philip Anderson from United States

A Norwegian thriller to challenge any American made thriller. This was a movie not to be missed. For any fans of truly disturbing psychological thrillers, "Naboer" is right up there on the "must see" list. To call this film a "psycho-sexual" thriller is to put the term mildly. The film concerns John, a man whose apparently cheating girlfriend leaves him to be with her new boyfriend. After grieving her loss for a very short while, he comes upon two girls who are his next door neighbors. When coming home from work one evening, one of the girls, Anne, requests a favor of him in her apartment. He reluctantly obliges and thus begins a truly extravagant mind-twister. John finds Anne and her roommate Kim to be a bit odd, and potentially mentally off-balance. As he decides to leave their apartment abruptly, it is too late as their entanglement has already begun. Anne finds John the next day and again requests a favor - to watch over her "sister" next door, as she is not to be left alone due to some previously dire incident. Upon entering their apartment, John is overwhelmed by the psychological torture that begins. He is trapped, abused, lost, and frightened, all before getting involved further into a sick, sexual game that would really give this film a guaranteed X-rating in a standard American market. Although "Naboer" really doesn't have the overt bloodshed (but still a fare share) that typical slasher fare films do, the horror of it all is presented mentally - and rightfully so, as the mind is much more powerful in suggestions that celluloid could ever be. As the story unravels, more and more questions pop up as to why everything is suddenly happening to John. What has his part been in possibly causing everything to happen? Is it his current situation, or perhaps his past? How do the neighbor girls know so much about his most intimate relationship details? How does it all tie in with his recent break-up, and why? The mental roller-coaster continues to pick up the pace until the very end, which is worth the wait. A different view of an already normally over-saturated horror/thriller market. "Naboer" works, and it works well. It would be hard-pressed to find a viewer who would leave the theater without a feeling of awe or shock. Excellent in every way.

Was the above comment useful to you?

13 out of 18 people found the following review useful:
Sex, violence and psychosis, 6 August 2006
5/10
Author: Chris Docker (eyeforfilm) from Scotland, United Kingdom

Sex, violence and psychosis - what more could you want for a down and dirty late night horror movie? Even if when you get them all together it may set off censorship bells . . .

John has split up with Ingrid, his girlfriend of two years and, as she calls to gather her stuff from his flat, we gather that the split was not entirely amicable. Soon after, John's vampish neighbours, the older, slightly dominating Anne, and the young, sexually impulsive and vulnerable Kim, persuade him into their flat. They know all about his break-up with Ingrid (they heard it through the wall) and are a bit creepy - for instance, they keep a wardrobe pushed against the door to the flat.

John is not exactly an easy-going laid-back guy. One of the girls tells him a sexually explicit story to arouse him after trapping him in the flat. When he finally starts to succumb, she initiates a violent sadomasochistic game, drawing him in with the promise of sex. After some brutal lovemaking he is shocked when he looks in the mirror and sees the amount of blood on his face. Strange coincidences start appearing and flashbacks suggest John is turned on by violence. Kim and Anne tell different versions of events and John soon feels trapped mentally as well as physically. Like all good horror movies, it ends up nastily and we breathe a sigh of relief as all is explained and we can catch the friendly night bus home, secure in the knowledge that nothing is going to jump out at us.

Next Door pushes limits by including the sex and violence together. The fairly liberal British Board of Film Censors, for instance, says it may, "intervene with portrayals of sexual violence which might, e.g. eroticise or endorse sexual assault." The fact that the sexually violence that we see is largely consensual may allow it to creep through uncut. In its home country of Norway, the film is the first to get an 18 rating in 17 years. You would be right in thinking it is not for the squeamish.

The film has a clever idea as the basis of all the goings on, but if you watch without the recommended several glasses of strong lager you may find you guess the ending all too easily. It is slightly stifled by a derivative feel - like a bad copy of David Lynch of Alfred Hitchcock - and could have benefited from some better pacing to allow the audience to catch its breathe between shocks. For all Next Door's ingeniousness, the camera-work hardly makes the most of the subject matter - although more careful framing and dramatic editing might have notched up the chances of the censors demanding cuts. On a more serious level, the film is quite a reasonable allegory on repression and erotic psychosis. One way or another, it may well earn your grudging attention - just don't try the techniques with your date.

Was the above comment useful to you?

11 out of 15 people found the following review useful:
pure and beautiful movie..., 18 October 2005
10/10
Author: melankolyma from izmir, turkey

This movie is really cool. It's a mixture of David Lynch's Mulholland Drive and The Machinist (the movie which Christian Bale performed in). If you like the movies with subliminal scripts and drama, murder, sadomasochist concepts, than this movie is really for you.

Don't let any people tell you the end of the movie or read any spoilers, as this would break all the surprise.

Really very good movie. A beautiful proof as if you combine good script, good acting, good art directing and directing, then you may have a beautiful movie with an average budget. One of the most surprising movies of 2005.

Was the above comment useful to you?

6 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
Freud still lives in cinema - Possible spoilers, 8 April 2005
9/10
Author: Thorkell A Ottarsson from Norway

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Nabåer (neighbors) is a psychological thriller in the spirit of Repulsion (Roman Polanski: 1965), Das Kabinett des Doktor Caligari (Robert Wiene: 1920) and Lost Highway (David Lynch: 1997). The film is structured around Freud's teachings about the Id and the Ego.

Very nice camera work (some of it fresh and daring) and Set Decoration (reflects the spiritual condition of the person). The directing is superb. Reminds me of David Lynch, David Cronenberg and Roman Polanski. All of them could have directed this movie.

The first hour is 4 stars (of 4) but then Pål Sletaune stops trusting the audiences and starts to explain too much (just like Hitchcock in Psycho (1960). Therefore I can not give this minor masterpiece more then 3.5 stars (of 4).

But it is far better than most thrillers and horror movies coming from Hollywood today. Wouldn't surprise me to see this one remade in Hollywood. Try to see it if you possible can.

Was the above comment useful to you?

5 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
Understated, haunting, excellent, 2 December 2006
10/10
Author: aloysius_bear from France

I saw Naboer on French TV with French subtitles, and joined the movie after it had started, but was immediately captivated by the low-key approach to John's character, the almost abstract quality of the set with its insistence on corridors and scenes glimpsed through doorways, and the eerie music, which reminded me a little of the haunting motif of "Basic Instinct". All of this screamed that it was a psychological thriller, that something horrible was going to happen - and this is before I had picked up the threads of the story. Comparisons with David Lynch happily never occurred to me, as I find his work pretentious, and this film felt honest. I can imagine that the dialogue may not have appealed to an American viewer, especially via subtitles, but its understatement was to my mind well judged and the repeating motifs reinforcing the idea of isolation and alienation. The concluding scene brought together all the threads of mystery and wove them into a final image that I shall never forget. In all, I thought it was excellent.

Was the above comment useful to you?

6 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
An excellent psychological thriller, 14 January 2008
9/10
Author: collipal-1 from Argentina

Although its running time is of 75 minutes,Naboer has enough material to fascinate the spectator.This is one of that great movies that challenge our expectations and where anything can happen.Director and screenwriter Pal Sletaune tells the story in an unusual way,so the film is totally unpredictable.This film is short but it produces a big impact in the spectator.This film has some disgusting and disturbing scenes but they are not gratuitous.They have a porpoise in the story.Sletaune does not underrate the spectator,so he does not give easy answers at the end of the movie.He leaves the spectators the homework of taking out conclusions.Naboer is an excellent and intelligent psychological thriller.I recommend it with the warning that some people may be disturbed with some scenes.

Was the above comment useful to you?
Page 1 of 4:[1] [2] [3] [4] [Next]

Add another review

Related Links

Plot summary Ratings Awards
External reviews Plot keywords Main details
Your user comments Your vote history