Gavagai

2018

1h 30m

Drama

TRAILER

for Gavagai: Trailer 1

List

Gavagai: Trailer 1

2:29

View more videos

92%

Tomatometer

12 Reviews

67%

Audience Score

Fewer than 50 Ratings

German businessman Carsten Neuer travels to Norway to finish the impossible translation of some Norwegian poems by Tarjei Vesaas into Chinese, a project that his late wife started. He hires Niko, a down-on-his-luck tour guide, to drive him to the poet's home and places of inspiration to stimulate his own translation. On the road, the ghost of Carsten's wife appears to him, while Niko struggles with the sudden consequences of his girlfriend's pregnancy.

Read More

Read Less

Prime Video

Rent Gavagai on Prime Video, or buy it on Prime Video.

Ben Sachs

Chicago Reader

Gavagai is not just an emotional movie, but a sensual one. Tregenza's lyrical camera movements and the actors' recitations of Vesaas's poetry contribute most plainly to this effect...

Rated: 3/4

Feb 2, 2019

Full Review

Justin Chang

Los Angeles Times

If language can mislead, Tregenza knows that it is hardly the sole mechanism for human understanding. He has made a film that, in more than one sense, is moving beyond words.

Aug 9, 2018

Full Review

Sheri Linden

Hollywood Reporter

A challenging but rewarding journey.

Aug 6, 2018

Full Review

A.S. Hamrah

n+1

Tregenza is not sketching the wistful unhappiness of the moneyed creative class so much as staring into the divide between souls.

Dec 18, 2018

Full Review

Steve Erickson

Gay City News

If one wants to see an inheritor to the mantle of Tarkovsky and Bergman, "Gavagai" is essential viewing.

Aug 22, 2018

Full Review

Avi Offer

NYC Movie Guru

A mesmerizing, quietly powerful and provocative emotional journey brimming with warmth, tenderness and breathtaking imagery.

Rated: 9.21/10

Aug 3, 2018

Full Review

Read all reviews

Audience Member

This film is...boring. It is overly pretentious and thinks it is doing something that average movie-goers have never seen before. I had the (mis)fortune of sitting through one of the director's lectures as he is a professor at VCU and picked up on some troubling statements. Firstly, when a critic wrote about the film threatening cultural appropriation, he called the critic's words "silly". He has a very firm belief that Asian people are intrinsically "mysterious", and in regards to the woman playing the Chinese wife he said the following, "[The actress has] certain ethnic traces to, shall we say, eastern people. She was supposed to be an enigma." before continuing on to confuse the word "enigma" with "enema". Lastly, when a student inquired on why specifically the woman was Chinese, he answered "[Carsten] perceives her as Chinese - whether she was or wasn't isn't the issue." He repeatedly disregarded the fact that the film was genuinely upsetting to some members of the Asian community and refused to hear out outside perspectives because he deems his own opinions more relevant to the context of the film. Avoid this at all costs, it's a mess.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

01/11/23

Full Review

brent m

An ambitious though not always effective attempt at celebrating the works of famed Norwegian poet Tarjei Vesaas and the ideas espoused through his writings. The film's inventive though sometimes overly cryptic narrative and cinematography tell an intriguing though somewhat underdeveloped story of love, death, loss, friendship and carrying on set in the context of a road trip buddy movie in the wilds of the Norwegian landscape. Nice sentiments and heartfelt emotions run through the film, but sometimes they go on far too long, with much-needed editing to make them more manageable -- and meaningful. Enjoy it as much as you can, but don't be surprised if it starts to try your patience after a while.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A beautiful looking film I've seen using boxxy software app, but too often with its heavy-handed and obvious symbolism, it's the kind of film people who don't like art film think all art film is like. A disappointment. I'd had high hopes.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/21/23

Full Review

Read all reviews

Post a rating

Rob Tregenza

Director

Andreas Lust

Actor

Anni-Kristina Juuso

Actor

Mikkel Gaup

Actor

Essra Berge

Actor

Thomas Tufte

Actor

Show Less Cast & Crew

Show More Cast & Crew

87%

86%

Welcome

75%

53%

Wakefield

TRAILER

for Wakefield

67%

68%

Ward No. 6

8%

34%

The Last Face

TRAILER

for The Last Face

96%

72%

Paterson

TRAILER

for Paterson

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

Christopher Robin Is Pleasantly Familiar

Gavagai: Trailer 1

2:29

View more videos

View more photos

Synopsis

German businessman Carsten Neuer travels to Norway to finish the impossible translation of some Norwegian poems by Tarjei Vesaas into Chinese, a project that his late wife started. He hires Niko, a down-on-his-luck tour guide, to drive him to the poet's home and places of inspiration to stimulate his own translation. On the road, the ghost of Carsten's wife appears to him, while Niko struggles with the sudden consequences of his girlfriend's pregnancy.

Director: Rob Tregenza
Producer: Tom Papa, Rob Tregenza
Screenwriter: Rob Tregenza, Kirk Kjeldsen
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 17, 2019
Runtime: 1h 30m

Most Popular at Home Now