Norwegian director Gunnar Corridor Jensen has made a trademark of his playful and quirky self-portraits by which his reflections on life typically discover a common echo. His newest movie, “Portrait of a Confused Father,” got down to discover his relationship along with his son, drawing on footage filmed over 20 years. Three weeks earlier than filming was to have wrapped, he heard that his son had been killed.
Corridor Jensen speaks to Selection about how he discovered the braveness to finish his movie amid his and his household’s immense grief. The trailer to the movie, which has its world premiere Sunday at CPH:DOX, debuts under.
The extremely private documentary is a heartfelt and uncooked story of a middle-aged control-freak father, who struggles to attach along with his defiant son. It’s a narrative of affection, of the issue and fantastic thing about parenthood, but additionally of loss.
We see Gunnar – the filmmaker/protagonist – who does his utmost to attach along with his beloved rebellious solely son, whereas navigating his personal conventional and barely outdated ideas of masculinity. As Jonathan turns right into a defiant self-confident younger man, testing his personal limits, Gunnar will get confused, like all dad or mum with youngsters from Gen Z would, but additionally as a result of Gunnar’s personal father – a captain on a cruise ship within the Caribbean – was by no means there for him.
Then when Jonathan turns 18, issues go south. The younger man disappears for weeks, after having emptied his saving accounts. When Gunnar lastly finds him, Jonathan resides a totally completely different life in Brazil with a male social media influencer with over 10 million followers. Drawn by the promise of simple cash and a world of hyper masculinity, Jonathan begins to lose management. Someday, Gunnar will get a cellphone name that can change his and his household’s lives perpetually. Jonathan, on the age of 21, has been fatally attacked. A interval of grief, and reconstruction follows, as Gunnar – who had separated from Jonathan’s mother – will get again collectively together with her.
Chatting with Selection about his expertise, Corridor Jensen says: “Three weeks earlier than filming was accomplished [in November 2023] I obtained the message dad and mom concern probably the most: Jonathan – 21 years previous – was killed. After the surprising information, I actually simply needed to die myself. It was an excessive amount of. Jonathan’s stunning nature had been lower, taken out of the world at a younger age.
“One thing in me had been damaged that might not be mounted. I do know most dad and mom that lose a toddler really feel that means. However paradoxically one retains on respiratory. And after the primary months of logistics from hell, I clearly noticed that the movie needed to be accomplished, with the horror of my son’s demise included. I noticed it as an obligation in the direction of Jonathan, and in addition as an obligation in the direction of the viewers on the market.
“Firstly, it’s consultant of the love between a son and a father, how tough and rewarding it may be.
“Secondly, I additionally noticed the movie as a related illustration of the occasions we’re residing in and the [inherent] risks. How simple it’s for a younger man to get misplaced in in the present day’s chaotic world with twisted concepts of the way to succeed and change into wealthy, promoted problematically by in the present day’s gurus, coaches, influencers on the web.
“Thirdly, we’ve an overload of books and movies round mom/daughter relationships, however only a few genuine tales about fathers and sons.”
To finish the movie, going by means of the footage of his son was very onerous, says Corridor Jensen, and it concerned “a variety of tears and agony.” Nonetheless, the filmmaker developed a technique.
“Daytime, going by means of the fabric, I shut off my feelings as a father as a lot as potential. I noticed the fabric as a filmmaker. I compelled myself to be skilled telling a narrative in one of the best ways potential. Then, within the night, I took a few glasses of wine, and broke down. All the gorgeous recollections I had seen throughout the day hit me onerous. It was meltdown! My spouse typically discovered me within the dwelling workplace crying, helpless at nighttime. She puzzled why I did this to myself.”
Two individuals had been essential in serving to Corridor Jensen construction his narrative and discover the fitting tone: his long-time editor Erlend Haarr Eriksson, and BBC Storyville’s commissioning editor Lucie Kon, who had boarded the venture at an early stage by way of the movie’s gross sales agent DR Gross sales.
“Lucy had purchased a private movie a few father and son attempting to attach. Then after the tragedy, I made a decision to maneuver on with the movie and to incorporate the tragedy and what led to it. Lucie stayed on board, full on,” Corridor Jensen says. “It was onerous for me to alter the movie from an artistically playful and light-footed documentary right into a extra explanatory work, however Lucy helped so much, each in taking out scenes that now appeared irrelevant, with sharpening the story in a extra explanatory means and with going closely into the voice-over narration. I’m deeply grateful to her. She helped carry the movie to a stage I couldn’t have performed myself.”
One of many challenges within the script, was to resolve when to announce the surprising information to the viewers. Corridor Jensen says lengthy discussions on the topic had been had with Haarr Eriksson and Kon. There have been two selections, says the director: both he would inform the tragedy because the story unfolds, chronologically, or he would do that in the beginning, an possibility he went for. Not solely was that the pure method to inform the story from his perspective as a narrator, conscious of the tragic occasions, however that was additionally a method to seize the viewers’s consideration, therefore his resolution as effectively to insert reminders of the tragedy by means of the voice over at varied intervals. That stated, because the director factors out, the movie is “under no circumstances some sort of true crime story” because it’s at the beginning “a narrative a few father and son, attempting to attach.”
“Being a good father is a troublesome trip,” says Corridor Jensen, who remembers his son as “an unstoppable power of nature.” “I don’t have options, however I hope this father and son story will resonate with the viewers. I additionally want to warn different dad and mom of the hazards of the web, and the necessity to monitor youngsters and youngsters,” he provides.
Kim Christiansen, government producer, in control of documentaries and co-production at DR Gross sales, praises Corridor Jensen’s achievement. “It’s unimaginable how Gunnar has managed to finish the movie and we’re extraordinarily proud to current ‘Portrait of a Confused Father’ for each the trade and particularly the viewers on the world premiere at CPH:DOX. Regardless of the tragic consequence, you will need to state that that is probably the most stunning father and son love story I’ve ever got here throughout, in any style.”
The movie is produced by Norway’s high banner Upnorth Movie, credited for Corridor Jensen’s earlier movie “Oh, It Hertz!“ (CPH:DOX, 2021), Håvard Bustnes’ competition hits “Phantoms of the Sierra Madre,” and “Two Raging Grannies.”
The movie is produced by Ingrid Aune Falch, Christian Aune Falch and Torstein Parelius at UpNorth Movie, and is being co-produced by Valérie Montmartin and Anders Justin for France’s Little Large Story and Sweden’s Movie Väsernorrland, with Kon at BBC Storyville. Jan Rofekamp and Freddy Neumann function government producers.
Following its screenings at CPH:DOX, the documentary might be launched theatrically by Norsk Filmdistribusjon in Norway in August 2025 earlier than a TV launch on NRK in Norway, Yle in Finland, DR in Denmark, SVT in Sweden, RTS in Switzerland, BBC within the U.Okay. and France Télévisions.
