[One of the films of the /slash Filmfestival‘s special European evening.]

Troll Hunter is a mockumentary by André Øvredal, starring Glenn Erland Tosterud, Johanna Mørck, Tomas Alf Larsen and Otto Jespersen.

Plot:
Tomas (Glenn Erland Tosterud), Kalle (Tomas Alf Larsen) and Johanna (Johanna Mørck) want to interview the poacher Hans (Otto Jespersen) for a school film project. Hans doesn’t really let them get close, but they’re insistent and follow him around. It doesn’t take long until they discover that Hans isn’t actually hunting bears – but trolls.

Troll Hunter works from a very simple but pretty cool idea. It doesn’t overdo the mockumentary format (thank goodness), tells its story with a nice sense of humor and the Troll special effects are really good. Unfortunately it does have some lengths around the middle.

I don’t really like mockumentaries, mostly because of the fucking shaky cam. But I heard a lot of good things about this film, so I wanted to see it anyway. And they manage to keep the shaking to a minimum and quickly find a solution for when the camera lense breaks, so that doesn’t get too tiring. [Though it will never be something I particularly enjoy.]

The special effects were really good when it came to the trolls. They were very well animated, especially for a film where I expect the budget to be rather small. In the light of this, it is a little surprising, though, that they did not manage to find a convincing bear puppet. Because that bear looked extremely fake.

They have a great sense of humor and they’re not afraid to use it. And it is so nicely dry that it fits perfectly into the documentary format. I also liked that they tried to give us scientific explanations for the troll’s reaction to light, even if the explanation itself was rather laughable.

Unfortunately the movie drags a little towards the middle. I would have had no problem with a little more silliness, maybe, or a slightly quicker pace.

Summarising: Definitely fun.