Mors Elling (2003)

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Elling	Per Christian Ellefsen	½
Mor	Grete Nordrå
Bugge-Høvik	Helge Reiss	½
Mag	Christin Borge
Georg	Per Schaaning
Grete Iversen	Lena Meieran
Flyvertinne	Ane Dahl Torp

Review

Mors Elling (filmatic successor and logical predecessor to the award winning Elling) has Per Christian Ellefsen returning as Ingvar Abjørnsen's mental case Elling. This time, the focus is on his tight-knit (to say the least) relation to his mother (wonderfully portrayed by Grete Nordrå). However, for the first half of its running-time, Eva Isaksen's film is constrained and unvigorous. Ellefsen takes some time to settle back into the role, and until he does, the film struggles to engage. The final part has some nice moments and touches, including a delightful scene between Ellefsen and veteran voice-over actor Harald Mæle. There's some useful sentimentality too, but as a whole, Mors Elling is too much of a narrative letdown.