official (accurate) tagline: A man with a 25 dollar amateur camera and nothing to lose, except his family, his country, his pride, his sexuality, himself and his life

Dazzling uber-narcissistic one-man-band self-portrait, shot on a shoestring by Norwegian self-obsessive (narrates in halting English) G.H.J.

Travels to India in search of enlightenment (unwise.) "Finds himself" bemid the Ashrams/Himalayas etc.

Underfed mid30s man, suffers midlife shenanigans: hypochondriac / diabetic / overanalytic / borderline sociopath. We feel pity and love for the c*nt, hpless schmuckk that he is. We forgive him his dopey trespasses: behaves very caddishly to girlfriends, previous GFs. 

We feel odd pity / contempt combo, which grows into something rather deeper by the end (via remarkable scene with him and his dead father's corpse). Hits the bottle very hard. Idolises Bukowski (fair enough) and Mishima (dodgy). 

Has great, inspiringly instinctive knack for filmmaking / editing / framing / composition / music / cinematography, which saves the day and then some. This is what Tarnation could and should have been, but somehow wasn't. Makes you think of Coppola's "little fat girl" quote: ironic that she should turn out to be this thin Norwegian 40-y-o.

Yeah, ". . . and suddenly one day, some little fat girl in Ohio is going to be the next Mozart and make a beautiful film with her father's little camera, and for once the so-called professionalism of movies will be destroyed forever and it will become an art form."

Neil Young
30th November / 1st December, 2005

GUNNAR GOES COMFORTABLE : [9/10] : Norway 2003 : Gunnar HALL JENSEN : 75  mins
seen on DVD at home in Sunderland (UK), 30th November 2005 - with thanks to Elin Sander


Paranoid man
In mid 30s
at the height of paranoia
at the zenith of his powers
By bed, replica shooter
zenith dissolving
by his bed replica shooter
in the zenith of his powers
When girls pass, puts his head down, in the street
His neighbors now are listening to this
Shakes in the chemist's
While buying his vits
Puts his head down
when girls pass in the street
Shakes in the chemist
Paranoid man in his late 30s
32, 45
Reaches its summit
Male, mid 30s, white, paranoia
Goes down to the dance
Going down fast.
No heebies, creepies
or hallucinegenics
It's the height of paranoia
Male, white, mid-to-late 30s
Serial Number 54129




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