Cave

Cave is a Norwegian film about three friends and former soldiers who try to rebuild a friendship by exploring an underwater cave. Charlie (or Charlotte) and Viktor used to date, but that ended for some reason and now Charlie and Adrian are a couple. Viktor has been off by himself for awhile, not recently out and about (a possible reference to a psychiatric hospital), but is the one who reached out with the suggestion.

But as they canoe down the river that reaches the cave, they notice someone following along the bank. Once in the cave, it becomes clear they aren't the first to venture inside. It also becomes clear that regardless of what Charlie wants to believe, Viktor's feelings for her haven't gone away. Well, I can't think of a better place for people to hash out their relationship differences calmly than a subterranean place full of pointy rocks, darkness, and freezing water!

It's an 80 minute film, very quick and focused. There are four characters total. They're into the cave within the first 20 minutes, and until the last five, that's where the story stays. I expected them to run into a creature initially, especially when Charlie notices the skull of something with pretty decent canines sitting on a rock. It's not that sort of movie.

The first half of the film is interesting for watching these old friends try to reconnect. They haven't seen Viktor for some time, and you can feel some awkwardness. Are certain jokes over the line now, or are they still OK? Charlie and Viktor can still be comfortable around each other, but you can see Charlie's trying to maintain a little distance, while pretending not to be. Or maybe she is oblivious to Viktor's gaze, but I think it's more she choosing to ignore it to risk shattering a friendship once and for all.

The second half of the film is where things start to go wrong within the cave, as things gets increasingly unsettling, and the danger comes into sharper focus. There was still a point in the film I thought things might turn around, and old bonds would win out, but it's not that kind of movie.