★★★

A micro-budget, DIY film which, if it has one fault, is a bit overthought, Code Name: Nagasaki is a fantastical documentary that finds best friends and Norwegian filmmakers Fredrik S. Hana and Marius Lunde on a hunt to find Lunde’s birth mother. 

Experimental to its core, a film fan can easily admire the out-of-the-box ideas the duo come up with. Deeply symbolic, the duo confront the fear, anxiety, and trepidation that comes with Marius potentially facing a mother he is not sure will be open and receptive to reconnecting.

As an audience, Code Name: Nagasaki can equally impress as it can overwhelm. Hana and Lunde have combined so many styles, themes, and presentation ideas that the film seems to travel briskly through the artisan mind, while also trying to continually refocus on the purpose of the story. 

Lunde’s Japanese/Norwegian heritage gives space for him to portray a samurai soldier, a monstrous villain in a Japanese horror film, but also a detective in the throes of a police procedural. Hana is rarely on camera, and always holding a camera or working in some technical capacity. In drawing on his heritage, and matching that to the characters he is portraying in an array of themes and ideas, Marius’ biggest fears and concerns are placed right before us - fearlessly, but full of symbolism and meaning.

For all the rich creativity, and tender underpinnings on display, an animated sequence late in the film is beautifully rendered and effective, Code Name: Nagasaki, even at just 69 minutes, feels too long and fractures fairly frequently along the journey. Hana and Lunde are clearly talented; balancing several distinctive genre styles and tropes while looping around a central premise. 

For the most patient of viewers, chances are this may wear you out before the film reaches its ultimate destination. Despite a struggle to get there, if you can stay with Code Name: Nagasaki you will find a touching, honest depiction of fear, anxiety, and a lifetime of wondering about acceptance.

Code Name: Nagasaki was viewed as part of the Fourth Annual North Bend Film Festival