Almost Kaurismaki-like in it`s downbeat locale and characters Junk Mail is the first feature from Norwegian writer/director Pal Sletaune.
It`s Roy`s story really - he`s a mailman and not a very meticulous one. Roy`s life changes when it becomes entwined with that of Line - a partially deaf woman who, with a former boyfriend, was involved in a robbery ... Not that Line knows about Roy`s involvement in her life - he steals into her apartment when she`s not there with a copy of the key she left in her mailbox...
This odd little story is strangely mesmerising.... The crafty screenplay which Sletaune wrote with Jonny Halberg keeps building co-incidences which are amusing more than unbelievable. The characters are flawed - Roy is a grotty isolated romantic, Line also an isolate but a guilty one. Neither have respect for other people`s property. But then neither want the money from the robbery either. Robert Skjrstad and Andrine Seether are both fine if a little inaccessible in the leading roles. Perhaps the film lacks the sort of emotional involvement that you would want with Roy and Line, perhaps the tricks of the screenplay meant something had to be sacrificed. I think Junk Mail is a clever film rather than a totally enjoyable one.
