Thale

Plot synopsis:
Two men are in plastic biohazard-type suits working as a cleaning crew on a crime scene. One of the men, Elvis, is vomiting continuously in a bucket; and you get a sense that he is inexperienced at this type of work. The second man, Leo, is calmly using handfuls of paper towels to mop up a large pool of congealed blood on the floor. Leo's cell phone rings and Elvis answers the phone for Leo and holds the phone to Leo's ear to speak as Leo still has the bloody rubber gloves on. Leo answers the phone, "no shit cleaning service, Leo speaking." As he is listening to the details of their next cleaning job, Elvis makes the mistake of glancing over at the bloody crime scene for just a second and immediately doubles over vomiting again, dropping Leo's cell phone in the bloody mess in the process. Leo calmly kneels down and bends his ear down next to the phone on the floor to finish receiving the address to the next job. He finishes speaking and announces to Elvis, "lunchtime" Elvis says, "great!" Elvis is standing on the shore of a lake in a heavily wooded area. The wind is blowing and he's swaying slightly in the breeze with his eyes closed. Leo walks up and tells him that it's an elderly man they are about to clean up. (You see a cabin in the background, they are at their next job already.) Leo says that the police only found half of the body as they are in a remote area with wild animals around and the animals have scattered the remains. Elvis continues swaying with his eyes closed, but answers, "so we have to find the other half." Leo gives his usual nonchalant shrug, he's obviously not surprised by the details of this kind of work. He asks Elvis what he is doing, Elvis says he's swaying in the breeze. Leo asks why and Elvis says, "why not?" Leo closes his eyes and sways also. He tells Elvis that they have to tear up the outhouse floor to recover all of the human remains that have been scattered around. Elvis is inside the outhouse throwing assorted clutter out, in order to make room to start removing the outhouse floor.

Tags: flashback

Review:
Thale is visually stunning, interesting in mythology and well - played movie.
Yes, the story is poor and screenplay has some holes, design of "hurdles" is quite upsetting (the CGI is done well, but they look really strange), but this has an mysterious atmosphere, supplemented by shots of beautiful nature and melancholic music.
Short footage is good move how to cover few deficiencies of screenplay, but maybe, it should have been 10 minutes longer...Over an above, the character of Thale was played very suggestively by beautiful Silje Reinåmo, and the characters of "two friends" are quite nice.
Thale is strange fantasy, but it has also some aspects of art movie (the way the shots are stylized, minimalistic acting, static camera, few actors...).I'm certainly sure, that Thale will be forgotten, and that's really pity.
It is because this movie is very unconventional, so it will barely engage the attention of masses, or at least some group of people - and maybe because you can't classify Thale into some universal film genre.
In addition, the low budget is obvious - but I don't think it is an negative in here.Would I recommend this movie to someone?
Namely, if you expect much of horror/gore and action - forget it and better don't watch it.
But if you like shots of beautiful nature accompanied by suggestive music, slow storyline, and you like the impressions more than action, maybe you will enjoy the Thale, as I did..
After seeing the first teaser of Thale I wasn't expecting very much of this Norwegian low budget film which is a mix of the genres crime, drama, gore and adventure.
'Thale' is based on a mythical character in Norwegian folklore called 'Huldra'.
It's a long time since I've seen such a start of a film involving blood, stiff body and puking.
But the film soon changes more into a thriller when the two men find i cellar looking like a serial killers office.
Then they discover Thale...It's easy to see that this film is low budget, but there's much talent here.
Silje Reinåmo (Thale) is very good, and the CGI is handled well.
If you have read anything about the film, including the title of this review, or have seen any trailer, then you already know what the story is about.
It is hardly a horror movie and I could only place it in the fantasy genre.The plot revolves around huldra, seductive creatures from Nordic folklore that seem to be very beautiful women, but are actually forest creatures.
After all, there are only four actors in total and a voice.Even if the lead character is supposedly the one driving the story, the movie being seen from his perspective, the one that really made the film feel real and interesting was, in acting and role, his friend, interpreted by Jon Sigve Skard.
A phlegmatic character, he underlines the weirdness of the situation by acting totally cool, creating the appropriate contrast.Over all it was a nice film, although the entirety of it was pretty much about the same thing and something that was already obvious from the beginning.
Made on a shoe string budget by rising Norwegian director Aleksander Nordaas, the film explores the huldra a mythical being from Nordic folklore.
Without giving anything away I will just say that the acting, especially that of the very beautiful Silje Reinåmo in the title role, was excellent for such a low budget picture.
The CGI and cinematography in the movie also impressed offering another breathtaking view of the Norwegian countryside.
This said Thale is an excellent example of what an imaginative director can fulfill within the confines of a small budget..
Thale is really a great movie.
This could easily have been maudlin or even silly but the two male leads manage to make you believe through understatement.Don't expect to be jumping out of your seat but welcome the thoughts this movie conjures up.Aleksander Nordaas is a force to be reckoned with.
lots of sci-fi,s start slow,then pick up speed.This Nordic thriller starts off with a bang,and actually gets better.Being into folklore from anywhere,i had heard of this film,and after a bit of a wait,i got to check it out.I was very pleased.As many people here in the states may remember, a year ,or so ago,a movie sorta like this came out.Not even close.This story is a good one,with great acting,interesting plot,and fx.
i love a good sci-fi,and on that note,i was happy,but this story is good,simple to follow,gripping,and well told(a very good "tail" )-all in all ,a solid 6-pop some corn,grab a cold drink,and just watch.Enjoy !.
From this unappetizing scene, we get the feeling that Thale will be a movie about what these guys do for a living.
Thale is an odd, mysterious and somewhat beguiling supernatural thriller from Norway that is built on mood and atmosphere and suspense made up of things that we learn along the way.
It is a relief to find a movie this quiet and moody when so many thrillers fall back on the standard of jack-in-the-box terror.In a series of creepy images banded with effectively melancholy music, the next scene reveals quick-cut elements that we only understand later.
Leo and Elvis find that their next job is to clean up a crime scene that reminds us, uncomfortably, of Buffalo Bill's lair in The Silence of the Lambs.
She doesn't speak, but an old tape recorder reveals that her name is Thale (Silje Reinåmo).
It is the kind of movie where the thrills come from what the characters discover for themselves.
Holed up in that room with Thale, something else manifests itself, something else that isn't suppose to exist.What is even more interesting is what we learn about Elvis and Leo along the way.
It is curious to see a supernatural thriller like this that takes a few seconds to give its characters a bit of dimension.
They aren't fully-realizes souls but they have lives that we can imagine exist apart from their predicament.Having recently sat through the halfwit (not to mention boring) nonsense of Fede Alvarez's remake of Evil Dead, this movie comes as a breath of fresh air.
While it isn't a perfect film, Thale exudes a measure of tension and grounds its story in reality before revealing the supernatural forces that are present.
This is the kind of movie that builds slowly, giving us time to discover things.
It moves slowly and has long passages where we wait for something to happen, but given the sad state of most other films in this genre, we welcome the chance to discover things for ourselves.***1/2 (of four).
I believe that Thale had roughly one third of Troll Hunters budget, yet its very beautiful.
I've seen a lot of low budget movies but this one would have made a great movie if it had more funds.
The storyline of the movie is pretty good but a bit lost also .
The author did a great job in telling the huldra's story and why she was like she was but the narration from the tapes and of her description is actually wrong.
And now having seen it, I must say that I was impressed.The movie isn't extraordinary in any way, as it was limited by budget and also limited to a very small aspect of a potentially greater storyline.
But still, the movie was entertaining and good fun to watch.Now, when I say that I was impressed, I mean by the performances put on by Silje Reinåmo (playing Thale), Erlend Nervold (playing Elvis) and especially Jon Sigve Skard (playing Leo).
They did really good jobs with their characters and carried the movie so well.I believe that you have to really be accustomed to Norwegian folklore and legends to really get the storyline of this movie.
And one thing that I was puzzled about was why Thale was so different from the other Hulda people in the forest.
Gives you something to think about.The story in "Thale" is about Leo and Elvis who are out deep in the forest on a cleaning job on a very messy site, when they discover a hidden entrance to a basement.
Leo and Elvis find themselves wrapped up in some mysterious events as they start to find out who or what Thale really is.This movie came out of nowhere and proved to be good fun to watch.
This movie didn't get a 10 because, being low-budget, the CGI wasn't perfect.
The current era favors fast-paced films full of action, quick changes of scene, and tight plots that jump from moment to moment.
A happy ending for Leo and it's up to you if thale has something to do with it or not.
If you enjoy dark fantasy or brooding and atmospheric horror films, then this supernatural tale will be well worth your time.
Leo and Elvis may not be the most engaging characters, but they are believable, and you don't find yourself cheering for their demise as so often in horror flicks in which the protagonists are anything but worth your empathy and time.
Thale steals the show--Silje Reinåmo owns her role as a mysterious woman held captive; she conveys more by not uttering a word than any of the other characters do--and I doubt that the English subtitles did the dialog much injustice.
The beginning and end do drag on at times, as is the case with many films that would be excellent at 45-50 minutes but feel the need to plod on for 90 minutes or more.
But Thale proves the old Scandinavians are no slouch when it comes to horror movies either...
Extremely well paced fantasy/horror/drama film....
1st watched 9/1/2013 – 7 out of 10(Dir-Aleksander Nordaas): Extremely well paced fantasy/horror/drama film about a couple of clean-up guys from murder scenes who discover a girl alive in a basement dwelling who may be something other than just a girl.
This movie does a great job of revealing bits and pieces of the story as it goes along until you finally understand everything at the very end.
The main character(found in the basement), Thale, is one of a few of her kind – but she was kept away from the others by a slightly-abusive but mostly fatherly scientist in hopes of keeping her away from the scarier characteristics(like eating people) of the rest of the Tailed-group.
This movie mixes many different genre's but keeps the main focus on the story when it could have become overly filled with special effects, gore or sex appeal(which would have happened if it was American made).
The movie focuses primarily of where Thale came from, how she became who she is, and where she is going in the end.
Thale is an low budget adventure film, that takes place in Norway.
and as far as the music goes, i must say that it is one of the better soundtracks in Norwegian film history.
but as I said, it is an low budget film.
So i would recommend to see this movie, if you are tired of the same old horror or adventure films.
This is not a teen movie, this is a good example for a new story film.
if you expect a horror slasher film, you will be disappointed.
There are some flaws after the initial realization of what's happening, but the overall mood of the film is consistent and it's surely not something you have witnessed in many movies.
Great character!I liked this so much I got my husband to watch it with me.
Proof that filmmakers don't need blockbuster budgets to create believable and suspenseful sci-fi/fantasy films.
The pacing was perfect, the dialog very natural, and the story intriguing (as well as easy to buy into even without knowing the folklore behind the mystery).
I highly recommend this movie--it harks back to the best of traditional story telling in film..
Out of the blue, Leo and Elvis are captured by a group of paramilitary soldiers and their leader wants to know where Thale is.
What will happen to Thales?"Thale" is an eerie Norwegian supernatural film.
Unfortunately the story is too short and consequently the plot is developed in too slow pace with a boring narrative.
I guess with a bigger budget Thale could have been better but unfortunately at this moment it's just not good enough to be remembered.
Nothing wrong with that genre, but this Nordic tale is just too slow and lacks a bigger budget.
The cast isn't bad, it's just the story that is a bit slow.
I caught myself several times trying to stay awake and that would not have happened if the story was better, with a bit more action.
I had higher hopes for this Norwegian movie and so I'm left disappointed..
The characters, apart from Thale, speak and move at a snail's pace adding to the shear frustration felt in trying to follow the story.
Maybe the CGI for the spider women here is a lot lower budget and tackier looking than it would be for a Harry Potter movie, but having Kaja Fjellberg on the cello with Liv Ulvik doing vocals sort of makes up for it.
This sort of reminded me of a Canadian zombie movie I saw recently called something like GROUND ZERO, in which an amoral crime scene cleaning crew is hired to tidy up what turns out to be Patient Zero in World War Z.
As was the case with the Canadian movie, the THALE writing staff could not come up with a plausible explanation as to what got the ball rolling here, so they dispense with the origin story and open in the middle of something never fully explained.
Great movie, makes the most of a low budget..
Just got finished watching the low budget Norwegian film "Thale".
It's a bit like Troll Hunter in a way, in that it's based on some folk tales, and shot very well for how low budget it is.
Based on a popular norse legend about a type of mermaid of the forests, "Thale" is, unfortunately, a little short of his enormous potential, because I believe that this folklore legend had the potential to yield a little more power and suspense to this movie, nevertheless, this fantasy product of Aleksander Nordaas is pretty good.
He managed to create, with a limited budget, a slightly curious film that benefits a lot from the strong performances of the small but talented cast.
The two main male actors, Erlend Nervold and Jon Sigve Skard, have to great performance, but the most mesmerizing performance in this movie belongs to one of the most promising stars of nordic cinema, Silje Reinåmo, which, without speeches or many screen time, was able to give her curious character a lot of energy and enigma.
Unfortunately, Thale it is not given much space or time to grow and shine within a median plot that, apart from being practically free of active or violent sequences, unfolds, virtually in its entirety, within a basement, where Leo and Elvis try to learn more about Thale and realize what secrets and dangers hide behind this beautiful creature.
The interactions between the three actors are a bit limited and, at the end of the film, we get the feeling that we didn't get to know very well the mysterious Thale or their violent "sisters" but, at least, we are given an good characterization of these mythological creatures that begin and end up a mystery to all of us, even though the movie give us a small explanation of its origin and some glimpses of their strength and real nature.
It's true that the minimalist plot of "Thale" doesn't stand out the full potential of the legend that is in the core of the film, but it can't be said that this movie is a weak fiction/fantasy product, because it manages to entertain the audience and emerge us in a fantastic and tense world with some surprises.
It's true that the plot should have focused a little more on Thale and should have also instilled a bit of suspense and action to this production but, taking into account the limitations and the essence of the film, I consider this "Thale" a reasonable cinematic product..
I really didn't like this movie.
On the other hand, the FX are quite good for a shoestring budget and the photography and lighting are quite well done.The movie starts with an interesting gory tone.
And it has some classic elements of suspense, horror and fiction movies.
Different kind of horror movie.
I think this is very different kind of horror movie than others what I have see.
I like how the plot goes, you get small pieces all the time why things happen like they do.Movie could be a little longer, maybe even 10 to 15min.
More like this horror movies..
This is an odd little (and quite short – 76 minutes) Norwegian fantasy horror film.
A simple plot and a small cast lend a quaint feel to the movie.Two men discover a woman (Thale) in the basement of a place they are cleaning up, beyond that they try to figure out who or what Thale is, leading to a mysterious back story.There is some strange and dark humour thrown into the mix and given the relative length of the feature, not much happens but the plot development combined with a rather alluring performance from Silje Reinåmo make for an interesting watch.Inoffensive and quirky Norwegian film in a similar style to Trolljegeren (2010).
Definitely worth a watch if you want something a little bit different to the normal Hollywood fare..
While I was watching this movie, I had a feeling of 5-7 stars, but when it ended - having introduced several plot-lines but neglecting to even explore any of them - it plummeted to a 3.Spoilers below:The two main characters had the most developed backgrounds - but even theirs was threadbare.