Factotum

Colour, 35 mm
USA, Norway, 2005, 93 min
Section: Horizons

Synopsis

The literary alter ego of American underground writer Charles Bukowski, Henry Chinaski, is the chief player in the film Factotum, whose screenplay was based on the book of the same name and other prose by this author. It describes the stereotypical daily routine of an as yet unknown writer who intersperses his creative efforts with exuberant alcoholic sprees and erotic frolicking with uninhibited women. He sometimes finds occasional work but fails to satisfy and is thrown out. He changes his job as frequently as he does his female partners. Even his more permanent relationship with a girl called Jan, who has a similar "free lifestyle", breaks up, as does his relationship with the eccentric but well-situated Laura. Chinaski doesn’t get on with his parents, either. His incensed father won’t have an asocial layabout in the house. The film narration is accompanied by Chinaski’s sarcastic commentary with its humorous and self-ironic aphorisms.

About the director

Bent Hamer (b. 1956, Sandefjord, Norway) studied literature and film science at Stockholm university; he also attended film school. After graduating in 1989 he made a number of documentaries and short features. His first feature film Eggs (1995), also screened at Karlovy Vary, won several awards, e.g. the FIPRESCI in Toronto. He also enjoyed international success with the bitter-sweet comedy Kitchen Stories (Salmer frakjøkkenet, 2003), screened in the section Another View at Karlovy Vary in 2003; it won the Jury Prize at São Paulo and the European Distribution Prize at Cannes. The script for Factotum (2005) was co-written by writer and producer Jim Stark, who produced low-budget independent films by the likes of Jim Jarmusche (Stranger Than Paradise, Down by Law, Mystery Train, Night on Earth) and the Icelandic film Cold Fever by Fridrik Thor Fridriksson. Bent Hamer owns the production company BulBul Film, where all his films were made.