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FILM
“Oculi – The Only Witness”
Director: Joachim Askjer
Norway – 2024
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For being a self-financed amateur production created entirely outside the public support system, the all-Norwegian low-budget thriller “Oculi – Det siste vitnet” is competently staged, and benefits from debut director Joachim Askjer’s technical expertise and experience from television. Measured against professional cinema films, this naturally comes up much shorter.
The press release from the distributor Manymore describes the film as “An unnerving crime drama with a twinkle in the eye”, which emphasizes that they are in dire need of a proofreader and that Askjer is not afraid of clichés.
Joachim Askjer’s “one-man operation”
“Oculi – The only witness” has a stereotypical story characterized by somewhat awkward dialogue, one-dimensional characters and a general absence of credibility – but there is nothing wrong with making a conventional entertainment film built up of well-used elements, with modest action scenes, humor and simple solutions. Joachim Askjer himself describes this as “very much a one-man operation”, and in the best Robert Rodriguez style has done most of it himself: produced, directed, edited, written the script and composed the music track, in addition to being responsible for the cinematography.
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So that in itself is impressive, especially considering that “Oculi – The only witness” was a hobby project that was recorded on weekends and on days off while Askjer juggled a full-time job as a TV editor on reality series such as “Paradise Hotel » and «Ex on the Beach Norway». Everything was financed with their own savings, and the film had a total budget of around NOK 150,000. Even so, it must be said that Joachim Askjer has gotten a lot out of this money.
“Oculi – The only witness” is also built around an interesting concept: what if the only witness to a crime was a blind man on a blind date? Martin (Aleksander Sylvan) lost his sight after a vaguely defined case of illness at a young age, but is an irrepressible optimist determined to prove that he can manage without problems. He gets most things done with a little help from an iPhone and Siri, and works with technical support in an office. Martin constantly turns up on Tinder dates, where the girls most often pull as soon as they discover that he is blind, but everything seems to fall into place as soon as he meets Cecilie (Tonje Brattås). A blonde ray of sunshine who works in IT, and has obvious chemistry with Martin. So much so that they end up in bed on the first date, to the great astonishment of their best friend Terjes (Julian Karenga).
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Bislet, Grünerløkka and Aker Brygge
Everything seems to go well on their second date, except that Cecilie is suddenly abducted in the open street. She is dragged screaming into a white van by bundles of tattooed muscles, while Martin is left unconscious with a broken mobile phone and a slight concussion. The police have a bit of a hard time believing Martin’s story that his date ends in a kidnapping, and it doesn’t help that the only witness to the incident is blind anyway. Martin does not know Cecilie’s last name, has no idea what she looks like and is naturally unable to give any description of the perpetrators.
The police can do very little, so Martin joins forces with the skeptical childhood friend Terje and makes a wholehearted attempt to solve the case himself. The first item on the agenda is to find out who Cecilie really is, where she works and why someone could think of kidnapping her. Martin then tries to infiltrate her workplace disguised as a mild-mannered package delivery man, and uses his visual impairment to get information from receptionists who don’t want to appear prejudiced.
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On the way, Martin uncovers a massive conspiracy involving industrial espionage, weapons technology and Russian mercenaries, while placing both himself and his best friend Terje in mortal danger. Director Joachim Askjer has come up with some clever ideas about how Martin maneuvers around Bislet, Grünerløkka and Aker Brygge with the help of a mobile camera, while his friend Terje sits at home in front of the PC to guide him through the obstacle courses.
Aleksander Sylvan in “Oculi – The Last Witness”
Lead actor Aleksander Sylvan (who is actually sighted) seems reasonably convincing as the visually impaired, and has a sympathetic aura that reminds us a little of everyone’s Aksel Hennie. Like the other actors here, he struggles a little to make the dialogue flow naturally, but most of the people in front of the camera have limited film experience. At times, Martin demonstrates action skills that Marvel hero Daredevil would have envied, and his credibility is regularly stretched to breaking point. Especially in a sequence where Martin is chased around Grünerløkka by comically incompetent police officers, who calmly jog right behind him in Keystone Kops style without being able to grab him.
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We get to take that as part of the charm of home-made low-budget productions, and Joachim Askjer is driven enough to know his own limitations. So the ambitions do not exceed the resources, and the format is kept elegantly modest. Whether “Oculi – The Last Witness” deserves to be considered a full-fledged cinema film depends on how much enthusiasm one has for self-financed amateur productions. This one is definitely more technically polished than average, and should if nothing else open some doors for mister Askjer.