Dominic LeRose The relationship between a father and a daughter is too complicated to comprehend. In "Aberdeen" we are united with perhaps the most dysfunctional relationship in independent film history. Kaisa, a successful, drug addicted young woman who sleeps around with various guys, is requested by her dying mother to fly to Norway from Scotland and pick up her alcoholic father and bring him to Aberdeen before her mom dies. Not only do the father and daughter hate each other, but they can't get along for one second. What's really brilliant that directer Hans Peter Molland does is make you care for these two people no matter how terrible they may seem. He points out the flaws in people, and examines how complicated family relationships can be. The true prize of the film is Lena Headey and Stellan Skarsgard for portraying two broken people who have to deal with each other for an entire trip. It's great to see Headey as a young actress in a small film before becoming Cersei Lannister on "Game of Thrones." You see how emotional she can be as an actress, and it is impossible to make you not care about her character. Skarsgard plays the drunk better than anyone in movies. He shows the physical and mental damages that alcoholism does, but more importantly, what it does to others. "Aberdeen" delivers us into a world of hatred and dysfunction, but finds room to fix all that with beauty and growth of a failed relationship that isn't forever damaged.

dwpollar 1st watched 12/31/2009 – 4 out of 10(Dir-Hans Petter Moland): Honest yet non-conclusive drama about the reconciliation of a separated family brought about by the dying wishes of a mother with cancer. This is a well acted movie and doesn't try to fluff up anything to make it look better than it is, but there was no real punch to affect the viewer. Basically, the story is about a daughter who accepts the mother's wish to bring her alcohol-addicted father to see her in the hospital. Her real hope is that the father and daughter will reconcile during the trip but this is a hard pill to swallow. The father stays drunk thru most of the trip and the daughter expectedly stays hard-nosed and her negative side is revealed thru their experiences. They meet up with a helpful truck driver whom the daughter eventually beds and learns to respect as he sticks around long enough to help them get to their destination. This side story is nice and there is the other issue as to whether the father and daughter are really biological father and daughter which adds some twists as well. All in all though, there is a lot of pain in this story that never really gets resolved --- so it's hard to like the movie. The makers really work hard to make you sympathize and to me this is very obvious. All in all, this is an OK movie but it didn't give you much to hold onto in it's entirety.

dynagirl It's not that often that I delve into movies past to find something to watch, but I've been so impressed with Lena Headey's work in "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" that I've been checking out her past work. Boy am I glad I saw this one. What an outstanding film. Aberdeen is a pretty heavy character-driven drama, so I'm sure it's not for everyone, but I was pulled into this film from the start and it never let me go. Every time I thought I knew where the story was going to go next, I was happy to be wrong. And the performances alone from Stellan Skarsgård and Lena Headey really make this emotional journey well worth taking. Highly recommend.

beasymc Isn't it wonderful how out of nowhere you can get hit with a film like this. I was hypnotized by Lena Headey from the start and i couldn't let go. I wondered where they were hiding this wonderful actress and began searching for answers.. Still haven't found any. Could hardly find anything about this movie. Blockbuster of course didn't have it and I haven't seen it played on the Sundance channel since. But no matter, it will remain with me forever...Lena by the way had a couple of movies this year ("The Cave" & " The Brother's Grimm" ) what a waste of this interesting actress. And by the way, have you seen the movie credits of Ian Hart. Whoa! More movies than Michael Caine. Anyway, if you get a chance, stay with this one. It was worth its weight in gold.