Summer is special, especially in one’s years leading up to adulthood. School break aside, it’s the ideal time for growth and exploration. Lifeguarding at the neighborhood pool or cashiering at a grocery store sets the foundation for a solid work ethic. Spending more time with someone you really care about lets love’s experience into the heart to—hopefully—flourish. Even the leisurely drives with all the windows rolled down shows how much more of the world is out there to take in. It’s that season of the blazing sun that forms much of the backdrop for “Out Stealing Horses.”
Hans Petter Moland (“In Order of Disappearance” & “Cold Pursuit”) directs this adaptation of Per Petterson’s 2003 novel of the same name. Petterson’s novel made Time magazine’s list of the Top 10 Fiction Books of 2007 and The New York Times’ 10 Best Books of 2007 (Fiction) list as well. The film itself was also Norway’s representative for Best International Feature Film at this year’s Oscars but missed out on being nominated.
Playing the project’s main character at an advanced age is Scandinavian cinema legend and Hollywood heavyweight Stellan Skarsgård in his fifth collaboration with Moland. He is joined by Bjørn Floberg, known to American cinemagoers as the Scandinavian prime minister in “Kingsman: The Secret Service.” Additional cast members include Danica Curcic (“Silent Heart”) and Tobias Santelmann (“Hercules” & “Point Break”). Jon Ranes also makes his cinema debut as Skarsgard’s character during that fateful summer.
Here’s the synopsis:
November 1999: 67-year-old Trond (Stellan Skarsgård), lives in self-imposed isolation and looks forward to welcoming in the new millennium alone. As winter arrives he meets one of his few neighbors, Lars (Bjørn Floberg), and realizes he knew him back in the summer of 1948. 1948 – the year Trond turned 15. The summer Trond grew up.
“Out Stealing Horses”—distributed by Magnolia Pictures—is set to be released in theaters and VOD on August 7. Check out both the trailer below and nature’s unending cycle of transformation.