Film

The Art of Negative Thinking / Kunsten å tenke negativt (2007) Film Review

Vee Hua 華婷婷2 min readJune 13, 2008Add comment

A cute, happy, dysfunctional cast!

I’ve come to take quite a liking to black comedies that come out of the Nordic countries. They often focus on untraditional subject matters and have underlying social commentaries; in the case of The Art of Negative Thinking, the focus is on disabled people — a demographic that is usually never made light of in American culture, which regards disabled individuals as practically helpless.

Those who have personal experience with disabled people or are particularly sensitive to the subject might find this movie to be callous and cruel. But that would be a simplified view on the subject. The movie does not set out to make fun of the disabled. The characters in the movie are unique individuals, each with their own mental and physical dysfunctions. Despite whatever quirks they have, they react to crisis in ways that any human being off the street might. The scenes that are hilarious are not hilarious because they contain disabled people; they are hilarious because they are studies on human emotion that take unexpected turns.

It seems at times like the characters are acting irrationally or intensely, making it easy to generalize that the movie is making a mockery of the disabled. But what’s important to note is that the three non-disabled characters in the movie act just as irrationally as the disabled ones do. If anything, the movie almost sets out to prove that the playing field is level, and that everyone has a little bit of crazy in them.

Director:
Bård Breien

Producer:
Dag Alveberg

Editor:
Zaklinka Stojevska

Screenwriter:
Bård Breien

Cinematographer:
Gaute Gunnari

Music:
Stein Berge Svendsen

Principal Cast:
Fridtjov Såheim, Kirsti Eline Torhaug, Henrik Mestad, Marian Saastad Ottesen, Kari Simonsen, Per Schaaning, Kjersti Holmen

Language:
Norweigan

Tagged asbard breien black comedies brutal dark humorous kunsten å tenke negativt norwegian artists and musicians sardonic siff sociology the art of negative thinking

Written by

Vee Hua 華婷婷

Vee Hua 華婷婷 (they/them) is a writer, filmmaker, and artist who splits their time between Oaxaca, Mexico, and Seattle, Washington. Much of their work unifies their metaphysical interests with their belief that art can positively transform the self and society. They are the Editor-in-Chief of REDEFINE, Interim Editor-in-Chief of International Examiner, and an Environmental Justice reporter at South Seattle Emerald. They also previously served as the Executive Director of the interdisciplinary community hub, Northwest Film Forum, where they played a key role in making the space more welcoming and accessible for diverse audiences.

Their latest short film, Reckless Spirits (2022), is a metaphysical, multi-lingual POC buddy comedy; the feature film version is slated for production in 2026. In 2025, they premiere their documentary short film, Hunt's Trading Post, set just outside of the Navajo and Ute Nations.

In 2017, Vee released the narrative short film, Searching Skies — which touches on Syrian refugee resettlement in the United States — and co-organized The Seventh Art Stand, a national film and civil rights discussion series against Islamophobia.

Vee has two narrative short films. Searching Skies (2017) touches on Syrian refugee resettlement in the United States; with it, they helped co-organize The Seventh Art Stand, a national film and civil rights discussion series against Islamophobia. Reckless Spirits (2022) is a metaphysical, multi-lingual POC buddy comedy for a bleak new era, in anticipation of a feature-length project.

Vee is passionate about cultural space, the environment, and finding ways to covertly and overtly disrupt oppressive structures. They also regularly share observational human stories through their storytelling newsletter, RAMBLIN’ WITH VEE!. They have a Master’s in Tribal Resource and Environmental Stewardship under the Native American Studies Department at the University of Minnesota and are pursuing a certificate in Incidencias en Problemas Socioambientales at the Universidad del Medio Ambiente in Mexico.

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