A Beginner’s Guide to the Norwegian Director

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Welcome to The Queue — your daily distraction of curated video content sourced from across the web. Today, we’re watching a video essay that introduces viewers to the filmography of director Joachim Trier.

I’m not proud of it, but The Worst Person of the World was my first Joachim Trier film. Though, perhaps such guilt is misplaced, given that everyone has to start somewhere in a director’s filmography. And really, the discovery that there’s more work from someone whose art you admire should be a joyful one.

To boot, with a feature film debut in 2006 and six feature films in total, Trier’s filmography is a relatively accessible one as far as titles are concerned. Theoretically, you could go from a novice to a completionist over the span of one very Norwegian weekend (Norweekend?).

Were you to perform such a feat, you’d find a filmography flecked with recurring thematic interests. Chiefly: a fascination with the inner lives of young adults, and all the melancholy, misunderstandings, and lack of certitude that comes along with that tricky part of finding your place in the world. Even when Trier strays into more genre-forward spaces, as with the horror-thriller Thelma, he is consistently interested in coming-of-age stories.

The following video essay provides a drive-by of Trier’s filmography to anyone whose interest may be piqued by the awards buzz surrounding his latest film. (The Worst Person In the World is nominated in both the International Feature and Original Screenplay categories at the Oscars). The essay also charts the key thematic and stylistic approaches that distinguish Trier as a director, and make him a cinematic voice worth listening to.

Watch “A Beginner’s Guide to Joachim Trier”:

Who made this?

This video essay introduction to the filmography of Joachim Trier comes courtesy of the fine folks at Little White Lies, a film-obsessed magazine based in the United Kingdom. Will Webb is the writer and editor behind this video, which was produced by Adam Woodward. You can follow Little White Lies on Twitter here. And you can check out their official website here. You can subscribe to their YouTube account here.

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Related Topics: Joachim Trier, The Queue

Meg Shields is the humble farm boy of your dreams and a senior contributor at Film School Rejects. She currently runs three columns at FSR: The Queue, How’d They Do That?, and Horrorscope. She is also a curator for One Perfect Shot and a freelance writer for hire. Meg can be found screaming about John Boorman’s ‘Excalibur’ on Twitter here: @TheWorstNun. (She/Her).