90 minutes tells us the unrelated and relentlessly bleak of stories of three men and their fraught and failed relationships. As the name implies, the film is told in real time, with longish scenes from each story giving the writer/director Eva Sørhaug time to set up and reveal the haunting failure and tragic decisions in each man’s lives.
I found this film fairly tough going. The women in these stories are all unloved, abused, or both. The violence is cutting, largely because it is portrayed in such a realistic and low key manner. The men are exquisitely photographed and all are given moments where we, if not sympathise with them, then at least understand their failings. The film often evoked mixed and conflicting feelings.
90 Minutes does play out a bit like three tense and brutal short films, intercut to make one incomplete, savage and through-provoking exploration of misplaced affection and domestic violence.
