Movies

Movie reviews that focus on the psychosocial development of a youth and often involves great conflict and transformation

Music

Introductions, Previews and Reviews of Treble Music with focus on choirs, boy sopranos, young singers and performers.

Short Movies

Reviews of coming of age shorts. (films that have a duration > than 1 minute and < than 15 minutes with focus on the character ,the visual drama or plot twists)

Books

Coming of age books and audio books review

Billy Elliot the Musical

Profiles of the young actors who play the title role in Billy Elliot the Musical as well as other BETM related articles.

Home » Movies

Benny’s Gym

Submitted by skykid on March 10, 2009 – 10:13 amView Comments

Film ratingAfter reading about the short film Benny’s Gym in the blogs of Ikarus I knew that I had to see it for myself. It is another  short movie from Norway – and I am using the word ” another ” as may be you will recall that Iver was also a Norwegian movie. It seems that Norway has some kind of tradition in producing short films – which is of a benefit for all of us.

Benny’s Gym first scenes we see the eleven years old Alfred running from a gang  of boy who are chasing him trough the woods. It reminded me a bit of myself  – as for some reason I always got in trouble with the local ” school gang ” and it was my classmates and me running fast enough which saved me from troubles. Alfred in the film unfortunately is not that lucky…

HBenny's Gym 2007 e gets caught – one of the bullies – Benny notices  the amazing drawing skills of  Alfred.  He befriend Alfred – but wants to keep their friendship secret from his other friends. Their friendship really remind me of another one I have seen in another movie Son of Rambow - but mostly reminded me of a friend of mine and myself. You see in a way I am associating myself with Alfred – but that friend of mine was exactly like Benny – not only he acted that way – but he also looked alike.  Like it was just yesterday when he was chatting on my pc and then one of the sudden said ” Come on ! Let`s go! We have a date ” . And I was like — ” woa – wait a minute who has a date ? ” – then he looked at me like I have asked the most stupidest question ever and told me that he was just chatting with a girl and got a date with her – but she a friend who he also arranged a date for me . When you see the movie you will definitely recognize the similarities ….

Both Atdhe Belegu Kim Erik Tena Eriksen were incredible in the leading roles. I admit that after seeing the film  I was totally blown away from Benny’s Gym .

 

Oh and btw : There is am amazing treble performance in the film – yet another extra making it worth seeing .

Rate Benny`s Gym and discover more titles at movies.theskykid.com

 Benny's Gym Audio Review: Play Now | Play in Popup
  • AIM
  • MySpace
  • Tumblr
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Google Buzz
  • Delicious
  • Digg
  • Google Gmail
  • Yahoo Mail
  • Evernote
  • StumbleUpon
  • Share/Bookmark

  • http://www.theskykid.com/2007/04/13/the-ultimate-coming-of-age-movie-list The ultimate coming of age movie list | theSkyKid.com

    [...] Benny´s gym [...]

  • http://www.theskykid.com/2009/06/10/varde-2008 Cairn (Varde) 2008 – Short film review | theSkyKid.com

    [...] other Scandinavian countries. I already wrote for two of them – “ Iver ” and ” Benny`s Gym” and now you are going to have another title to look for – the Norwegian film ” Varde [...]

  • Kiss Tony

    [...] theskykid.com/2009/03/10/… [...]

  • StereoID

    I have seen a lot of Norwegian moves that follow the same theme with a boy or a “gang” of boys that want to build a world of justice, respect and mutual friendship. My favorite movie is called “The Black Hand”, but please don't ask me names of people in the movie:))
    ______________________________________
    Buying Steroids

  • StereoID

    I have seen a lot of Norwegian moves that follow the same theme with a boy or a “gang” of boys that want to build a world of justice, respect and mutual friendship. My favorite movie is called “The Black Hand”, but please don't ask me names of people in the movie:))

  • lateamerican

    This is an amazingly accomplished film, everything from its superb editing to the fantastic cinematography — especially all the hand-held camera work that is quite effective in the chase scenes. Both boys have a natural ability, so that the expressions on their faces always convey their emotions quite well. Of course, they pretty much wear their emotions on their sleeves anyway, as the connection between them is sharp and somewhat raw. Excellent effort.

  • http://rivenmaster.blogspot.com Rivenmaster

    While I do many of Skykid's audio reviews, I am not always able to see the films myself. This was not the case with this film. As soon as I finished this review I sought it out to view it! What I found was a very well developed story brought to life within these young characters. It was very moving to see these two boys carry out the large task of convincing it's audience that they were truly being genuine in their actions. They did superbly. To watch Benny the Bully and see almost from the beginning that he was hurting inside and trying to cover his own need for love and acceptance with rejection of others was portrayed without flaw. Of course on the other side to see Alfred who was not a push over only a very compassionate and caring boy who only fought when pushed too far was projected perfectly. These two young actors were for me the highlight of the entire movie. The story was also quite convincing in itself because it showed the hurts that can run so deep when you are that age and seeking love and acceptance from everyone. Great review and thanks for making me take a break and watch a great coming of age film that I'm sure would have escaped me otherwise!

  • http://rivenmaster.blogspot.com Rivenmaster

    While I do many of Skykid's audio reviews, I am not always able to see the films myself. This was not the case with this film. As soon as I finished this review I sought it out to view it! What I found was a very well developed story brought to life within these young characters. It was very moving to see these two boys carry out the large task of convincing it's audience that they were truly being genuine in their actions. They did superbly. To watch Benny the Bully and see almost from the beginning that he was hurting inside and trying to cover his own need for love and acceptance with rejection of others was portrayed without flaw. Of course on the other side to see Alfred who was not a push over only a very compassionate and caring boy who only fought when pushed too far was projected perfectly. These two young actors were for me the highlight of the entire movie. The story was also quite convincing in itself because it showed the hurts that can run so deep when you are that age and seeking love and acceptance from everyone. Great review and thanks for making me take a break and watch a great coming of age film that I'm sure would have escaped me otherwise!

blog comments powered by Disqus