Movie: Onkel Jens (2025)

 

(My Uncle Jens)
Premiere: March 10, 2025 (SXSW Film Festival, United States)
Country of origin: Norway
Directed by: Brwa Vahabpour
Written by: Brwa Vahabpour
Distributed by: Tangaj Production ,Filmreaktor
Genre: Drama / Comedy
Runtime: 1h38min
Starring: Peiman Azizpour, Hamza Agooshi, Sarah Francesca Brænne 

 

I actually got involved with Onkel Jens back in 2023, I did get the opportunity to have a sort of consulting role through a service the filmmakers used. I got to hear most of the movie’s ideas, its style and offer my opinions. I’ve done this for a few films over the years. What makes this one, extra interesting, is that it’s the first movie I actually get to see, where I shared my opinion this early on. Too bad I can’t remember my exact input. I do not know if I effected the movie, but I can hope I had some good input.

The movie follows Akam (Peiman Azizpour) a teacher whose life gets unexpectedly turned upside down when his uncle from Kurdistan, whom he hasn’t seen since childhood, shows up at his door, in the middle of the night, in Norway. The uncle Khdr, is played by Hamza Agooshi. Right from the start, I had the feeling something might be off with this uncle, what if this isn’t really his uncle? It made me think of a Swedish movie that plays every Christmas here, Can You Whistle, Johanna? (1994) In that story, a child pretends an elderly man at a Care home is his grandfather. 

Back to Onkel Jens. The filmmakers cleverly keep you questioning things. There are awkward but realistic moments, especially when Akam ends up leaving with two others in a dorm, Pernille and Stian, they are a bit split about what they think of Uncle staying there, transparent communication is important. To them Khdr introduces himself as “Jens”. The film becomes a bittersweet exploration of Akam trying to handle his uncle, who insists on staying with him for just a “few days”. Akam is too nice, trying to manage both love and patience, it comes with a price.

 

All the performances are solid and the story strikes a good balance between drama and comedy. One line early in the movie had me laughing hard: Akam is standing, looking a bit confused at his uncle, who is sitting down and says casually, “Why are you standing there? Sit down, your flagpole!” That was funny. There is also a well crafted side story about a struggling student that I really liked.
 

The music throughout the film is mostly in Kurdish style, but at one point, Kjell Höglund’s Genesarets sjö starts playing, a Swedish melancholic song. It fits surprisingly well, even if it caught me off guard.

The screener I got, came with Norwegian subtitles, that was really good as the characters sometimes speak Kurdish.

Onkel Jens is a bittersweet story about family bonds, full of warmth, awkwardness and heartfelt connections. I give this culturish journey 8/10. 

Homepage:
https://tangajproduction.com/

https://filmreaktor.no/productions/onkel_jens

IMDB
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt28514971

Written by Sonny