Sick of Myself 

Watch Time: 97 minutes

I wanted to watch Forgotten Love, which had been highly recommended by my Myrtle Beach buddies. But I wanted to watch that one with K, and she was not available. So, I flicked through Prime’s recommendations and found Sick of Myself, a 2022 Norwegian film written and directed by Kristoffer Borgli and starring Kristine Kajuth Thorp and Erik Saether.

It began as a typical Scandinavian domestic drama, but quickly turned into something that I would have criticized as absurd and implausible… except the acting and the direction were so good, I couldn’t pull myself away from it.

Sick of Myself is hard to classify. I’d say it’s 50% black comedy, 25% political satire, and 25% horror. It’s odd. It’s not for everyone. But it’s very good.

Interesting 

Borgli said that living in Los Angeles while writing the script is what most heavily influenced the film’s characters and plot: “The influence from the environment around me here really did something to the story and to the character. The personal traits of her being hugely ambitious, opportunistic, and maybe even a little bit of a narcissist were things I bumped into more frequently here than I did in Norway.”

Critical Reception 

* “Kristoffer Borgli is unduly proud of himself for concocting his unlikable protagonists, and he marinates in their repulsive self-absorption.” (Slant Magazine)

* “Putting aside the film’s obnoxious social critique… there is something compelling about its particular brand of cynicism.” (New York Times)

* “It’s not subtle, but a committed performance from Thorp and some uncomfortable truths about the nature of self-promotion [make] this a thought-provoking satire.” (Empire Magazine)

You can watch the trailer here.