Orca is the Latin
term for killer whale, a herd animal that does not feel well if it is isolated.
In other words, an ingenious reference and title, which sums up the conflict in Josephine Bornebusch's relationship drama about how social distancing affects us.
Yes, if it were not for the fact that the said sentence is pronounced in capital letters, and in this way it drains on finesse.
Sin.
It would have been more fun to make that connection yourself.
But otherwise it is a fun, believable and engaging consideration of the neurotic middle class fears and shortcomings.
It's everyday, but not banal.
Many small ingenious details, in both dialogue and props.
Josephine Bornebusch's
star is still on the rise.
And just so.
She is a Renaissance person who constantly manages to connect with that nerve that we can call human existence.
But she does it with a light hand.
This time together with screenwriter Gunnar Järvstad.
Here we meet a bunch of people of different ages who for an unknown reason are forced to isolate themselves in their homes, and therefore only communicate via screen.
Yes, it is of course Covid-19 that is the inspiration, but in the reality of the film, the young people also stay at home, and are therefore not out hitting their age-racist heels on the club roof.
It's about friendship and love, and lack of the same.
Director and
screenwriter Bornebusch has been hailed for his two editions of the series Love Me.
Which is a tribute too much.
The first season was spotless, with a completely unforced naturalistic action that gave the illusion extra stability.
It felt like a work that came directly from the author's heart, while the second seemed to come directly from the brain of a summoned playwright.
There is nothing wrong with that, but it gives a more painted story where the characters, rather than behaving like people, behave like people do in the cinema.
The ending is deplorable in its pasted harmony.
Bornebusch seems to be weak for happy endings, so here too, but a (1) dark streak may still remain and chafe when the afterwords roll.
Admittedly, there
is a feeling of sitting and watching pieces of waste from Love Me, but in that case they are very nicely put together.
Partly technically, it must have been a real horse job to get the individual scenes together so frictionlessly, partly thanks to the star ensemble which thus only plays against a screen, but still has a fully relaxed presence.
Orca is like a TV series in concentrate, or if you like: a play where the audience sits in the lap of the actors.
Still, it lives.
If you mainly like film for the medium's ability to paint wide fantasy worlds, this is not a party, but those who start with a talented and entertaining dialogue have come to the right place.