A-ha The Movie
In the first part of my interview with Thoman Robsahm about A-ha The Movie, we discussed how he engaged with Morten Harket, Magne Furuholmen and Pål Waaktaar, and what he learned about how these very different personalities interacted. We talked about the vast scope of the project, which charts the band’s story across four decades, and how it was important to him to keep the focus on the music. In this second part, we discuss the band’s own musical influences, their various artistic side projects, and how he went about filming them onstage.
He almost left out the side projects, he says, because it would have been the obvious thing to drop if the film was too long, “but I feel that since this is a band so much about the different personalities. In some bands, you could argue that some of the members bring a lot less into.
In the first part of my interview with Thoman Robsahm about A-ha The Movie, we discussed how he engaged with Morten Harket, Magne Furuholmen and Pål Waaktaar, and what he learned about how these very different personalities interacted. We talked about the vast scope of the project, which charts the band’s story across four decades, and how it was important to him to keep the focus on the music. In this second part, we discuss the band’s own musical influences, their various artistic side projects, and how he went about filming them onstage.
He almost left out the side projects, he says, because it would have been the obvious thing to drop if the film was too long, “but I feel that since this is a band so much about the different personalities. In some bands, you could argue that some of the members bring a lot less into.
- 5/27/2022
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
An air of self-loathing and regret hangs over this 40th-anniversary documentary about the Norwegian trio who shot to fame in the 80s
It’s got to be one of the worst jobs in showbiz: being a-ha’s official photographer. Here’s the poor guy after a particularly awkward, everyone-gritting-their-teeth photo shoot: “It’s very hard as a photographer when people don’t want to be together. It shows.” And it really does show. Watching this 40th-anniversary documentary, you might conclude that what a-ha really need is a band therapist, not a photographer.
Four years in the making, a-ha: The Movie is the comprehensive story of the Norwegian trio (about 20 minutes too comprehensive for all but diehard fans). To anyone over 45, no introductions are necessary: a-ha is the band whose single Take on Me reached No 2 in the UK charts back in 1985 (it’s still a knockout pop tune with the crack-cocaine of riffs). Back then,...
It’s got to be one of the worst jobs in showbiz: being a-ha’s official photographer. Here’s the poor guy after a particularly awkward, everyone-gritting-their-teeth photo shoot: “It’s very hard as a photographer when people don’t want to be together. It shows.” And it really does show. Watching this 40th-anniversary documentary, you might conclude that what a-ha really need is a band therapist, not a photographer.
Four years in the making, a-ha: The Movie is the comprehensive story of the Norwegian trio (about 20 minutes too comprehensive for all but diehard fans). To anyone over 45, no introductions are necessary: a-ha is the band whose single Take on Me reached No 2 in the UK charts back in 1985 (it’s still a knockout pop tune with the crack-cocaine of riffs). Back then,...
- 5/18/2022
- by Cath Clarke
- The Guardian - Film News
A band’s 40th anniversary is nothing to sneeze at, but learning that one of the groups to reach that milestone is the Norwegian trio a-ha might warrant not so much an achoo as a gasp, double take, or “Come again?”
Since 1985, we’ve all lived with the sparkling earworm of syncopation, synth and pop crooning that is the single “Take On Me,” the kind of breakout chart-topper (in 36 countries) that you just knew was going to define an era’s sugary, youthful romanticism. The dynamically conceptualized half-animated music video didn’t hurt its immortality campaign either, with lead singer Morten Harket’s chiseled, sensitive pouty-rebel presence — someone, please, help him! — destined to adorn teenage walls everywhere. a-ha was ‘80s MTV fame personified, but that song is also a truly great pop classic.
And yet, as Norwegian filmmaker and proud fan Thomas Robsahm’s affectionate documentary “a-ha: The Movie” reveals,...
Since 1985, we’ve all lived with the sparkling earworm of syncopation, synth and pop crooning that is the single “Take On Me,” the kind of breakout chart-topper (in 36 countries) that you just knew was going to define an era’s sugary, youthful romanticism. The dynamically conceptualized half-animated music video didn’t hurt its immortality campaign either, with lead singer Morten Harket’s chiseled, sensitive pouty-rebel presence — someone, please, help him! — destined to adorn teenage walls everywhere. a-ha was ‘80s MTV fame personified, but that song is also a truly great pop classic.
And yet, as Norwegian filmmaker and proud fan Thomas Robsahm’s affectionate documentary “a-ha: The Movie” reveals,...
- 4/8/2022
- by Robert Abele
- The Wrap
You’d think the songs that we call one-hit wonders — I’ve always applied the term interchangeably to bands and songs — would, by their nature, have the quality of novelty singles. A lot of them do, like “Come On Eileen” or “I’m Too Sexy” or “Spirit in the Sky” or “867-5309 (Jenny)” or “96 Tears.” But occasionally there’s a one-hit wonder that’s so transcendent it qualifies as one of the greatest pop songs you’ve ever heard — which makes it all the more mysterious that the band in question never came within a million miles of replicating its sublimity or success. I’m thinking of songs like “Tubthumping” by Chumbawamba, “Come and Get Your Love” by Redbone, or the song that may be the greatest one-hit wonder of them all: “Take On Me” by the Norwegian synth-pop trio A-ha.
As the new documentary “A-ha: The Movie” makes clear,...
As the new documentary “A-ha: The Movie” makes clear,...
- 4/7/2022
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
A boy who, at the age of three, discovered that he could sing anything he wanted to, that his voice would just soar. Another who made drums out of carboard tubes and performed out on the balcony of his parents’ flat. A third, his neighbour, who loved guitar. Perhaps it was inevitable that they would find each other. They played together in high school. After leaving, Pål Waaktaar (now Pål Waaktaar-Savoy) and Magne Furuholmen moved to London to pursue their dream of becoming rock stars. When it didn’t work out, they persuaded Morten Harket to join them. When it still didn’t work out, they persevered, constantly changing their look and their management and their videos until suddenly, Take On Me was a worldwide hit. The three teenagers realised how far out of their depth they were only when they were number one in the US and there was no looking.
- 3/5/2022
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Exclusive: Lightyear Entertainment has acquired two documentaries that made their world premieres at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival: Thomas Robsahm’s A-ha: The Movie and Eddie Martin’s We Were Once Kids. The former will open in theaters across the U.S. and Canada on April 8, with the latter set for release in May.
A-ha: The Movie celebrates the 40th anniversary of the synth-pop band’s irresistible single “Take on Me,” which is still one of the most played songs of the last millennium. The musicians from small-town Norway became global sensations and heartthrobs overnight when they released the song and its groundbreaking pencil-sketch animation video, seeing their newfound fame overshadow their original dream to make music. In the years since, each has taken separate roads to get back to what they loved most.
A-ha has released 15 albums to date, which have sold more than 55 million copies. The band has also earned eight MTV Awards,...
A-ha: The Movie celebrates the 40th anniversary of the synth-pop band’s irresistible single “Take on Me,” which is still one of the most played songs of the last millennium. The musicians from small-town Norway became global sensations and heartthrobs overnight when they released the song and its groundbreaking pencil-sketch animation video, seeing their newfound fame overshadow their original dream to make music. In the years since, each has taken separate roads to get back to what they loved most.
A-ha has released 15 albums to date, which have sold more than 55 million copies. The band has also earned eight MTV Awards,...
- 12/20/2021
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Swiss-based sales outfit First Hand Films has added major territories to Tribeca and Haugesund entry “A-ha: The Movie” doc, helmed by Thomas Robsahm together with Aslaug Holm (“Generation Utøya”).
Lighthouse Entertainment has snapped rights for the U.S., Modern Films for the U.K., A Contracorriente for Spain, Periscoop for Benelux, Pannania for Hungary and Side Project Production for Taiwan.
Earlier distribution deals were closed with Germany (Salzgeber), Japan (Klockworx), Korea (Company L), Poland (Mayfly), Norway (Euforia), Sweden (TriArt), Denmark (Øst for Paradis), with First Hand Films’ own distribution shingle in charge of the Swiss premiere.
The Norwegian doc is a candid and close look at the iconic Norwegian pop band A-ha, behind the 1985 hit “Take on Me.” The pic follows founding members Pål Waaktaar-Savoy, Magne Furuholmen and Morten Harket through their creative clashes, ambitions and stormy relationships.
Robsahm, a seasoned director-producer,behind Joachim Trier’s Cannes competition hit “The Worst Person in the World,...
Lighthouse Entertainment has snapped rights for the U.S., Modern Films for the U.K., A Contracorriente for Spain, Periscoop for Benelux, Pannania for Hungary and Side Project Production for Taiwan.
Earlier distribution deals were closed with Germany (Salzgeber), Japan (Klockworx), Korea (Company L), Poland (Mayfly), Norway (Euforia), Sweden (TriArt), Denmark (Øst for Paradis), with First Hand Films’ own distribution shingle in charge of the Swiss premiere.
The Norwegian doc is a candid and close look at the iconic Norwegian pop band A-ha, behind the 1985 hit “Take on Me.” The pic follows founding members Pål Waaktaar-Savoy, Magne Furuholmen and Morten Harket through their creative clashes, ambitions and stormy relationships.
Robsahm, a seasoned director-producer,behind Joachim Trier’s Cannes competition hit “The Worst Person in the World,...
- 8/11/2021
- by Annika Pham
- Variety Film + TV
A-ha detail the evolution of their Eighties smash “Take On Me” in this clip from A-ha: The Movie, a documentary about the Norwegian New Wave band’s formation, success and disintegration set to premiere at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival.
As the band reveal in the clip — and as keyboardist Magne Furuholmen told Rolling Stone in a 2011 interview about the track — “Take On Me” underwent numerous stylistic changes, title changes and false starts before becoming a chart-topping hit and instantly-iconic music video.
Before becoming a Number One hit, “Take On Me...
As the band reveal in the clip — and as keyboardist Magne Furuholmen told Rolling Stone in a 2011 interview about the track — “Take On Me” underwent numerous stylistic changes, title changes and false starts before becoming a chart-topping hit and instantly-iconic music video.
Before becoming a Number One hit, “Take On Me...
- 6/11/2021
- by Daniel Kreps
- Rollingstone.com
Consider it a celebration with something of an asterisk: in-person film festivals are back! But so are virtual components, making some of the year’s biggest cinematic events both safe and accessible for an even wider audience to enjoy them. After a cancelled 2020 edition and a delayed 2021 event, the Tribeca Festival is bellying up for a hybrid event with a major in-person edge, with lots to watch, no matter in which manner you choose to consume it.
In March, the festival announced that it would “transform prominent locations into an expansive 12-day multi-screen outdoor celebration” held this month, and is believed to be first major North American film festival to mount such an in-person event.
Director Jon M. Chu’s long-awaited “In the Heights,” adapted from Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, will open the 20th anniversary edition of Tribeca on June 9. The festival will also celebrate the world...
In March, the festival announced that it would “transform prominent locations into an expansive 12-day multi-screen outdoor celebration” held this month, and is believed to be first major North American film festival to mount such an in-person event.
Director Jon M. Chu’s long-awaited “In the Heights,” adapted from Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, will open the 20th anniversary edition of Tribeca on June 9. The festival will also celebrate the world...
- 6/7/2021
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
A-ha has unveiled a 4k restoration of their revolutionary rotoscoped video for their Eighties smash “Take on Me.”
A-ha famously released two versions of “Take on Me” and two videos for the song. The first arrived in 1984, and the second appeared on the Norwegian outfit’s 1985 debut album, Hunting High and Low. The video for the second version of the song was directed by Steve Barron and used rotoscoping — a mix of live-action and pencil animation — to tell a fantastical love story.
As a press release for the 4k version of “Take on Me” notes,...
A-ha famously released two versions of “Take on Me” and two videos for the song. The first arrived in 1984, and the second appeared on the Norwegian outfit’s 1985 debut album, Hunting High and Low. The video for the second version of the song was directed by Steve Barron and used rotoscoping — a mix of live-action and pencil animation — to tell a fantastical love story.
As a press release for the 4k version of “Take on Me” notes,...
- 12/30/2019
- by Jon Blistein
- Rollingstone.com
A-ha is making noise again with its latest studio album Lifelines and highly anticipated High and Low tour. The Norwegian band was formed in Oslo in 1982 and founded by guitarist Paul Waaktaar-Savoy, pianist Magne Furuholmen and singer Morten Harket. Today, the band has garnered much global success, in which it has sold over 100 […]
The post A-Ha Release New Album & Head Out On ‘High And Low Tour’ [Dates & Concert Tickets Info] appeared first on uInterview.
The post A-Ha Release New Album & Head Out On ‘High And Low Tour’ [Dates & Concert Tickets Info] appeared first on uInterview.
- 11/4/2019
- by Ashley Johnson
- Uinterview
Magne Furuholmen, the keyboardist and co-songwriter for Norwegian synthpop band A-ha, has responded to a recent re-election video for President Donald Trump that visually borrows from the group’s classic video for “Take on Me.”
“You write a song in your youth and you don’t write for a particular group of people one way or another; you write it for everyone. But then stuff like this happens,” Furuholmen tells Rolling Stone.
The video for “Take on Me,” released in 1985 and directed by renowned British videographer Steve Barron, became famous...
“You write a song in your youth and you don’t write for a particular group of people one way or another; you write it for everyone. But then stuff like this happens,” Furuholmen tells Rolling Stone.
The video for “Take on Me,” released in 1985 and directed by renowned British videographer Steve Barron, became famous...
- 10/1/2019
- by Claire Shaffer
- Rollingstone.com
Haugesund, Norway — Pitched at Haugesund’s New Nordic Films confab, Thomas Robsahm and Aslaug Holm’s doc “a-ha -The Movie” won’t hit screens before November 2020, but an array of new production and distribution partners have already boarded the project.
Clementina Hegewisch of Neue Impuls and Matthias Greving of Kinescope Film in Germany are now co-producing with lead Norwegian producer Yngve Sæther of Motlys and Tore Bucarp of Fenris Film. Public funders are the Norwegian Film Institute, Fond for lyd og bilde, Nordisk Film & TV Fond and Nordmedia.
Broadcasters that have secured rights include TV2 Norway, Svt, Yle, Arte, Vrt Belgium, Srf Switzerland, while theatrical distributor Euphoria Film has nabbed domestic rights and Salzgeber & Co Medien German distribution rights. First Hand Films, who came on board two years ago, is sales rep. The release in Norway is set for November 2020.
The music doc tells the whole story, how three young boys from Oslo -Magne Furuholmen,...
Clementina Hegewisch of Neue Impuls and Matthias Greving of Kinescope Film in Germany are now co-producing with lead Norwegian producer Yngve Sæther of Motlys and Tore Bucarp of Fenris Film. Public funders are the Norwegian Film Institute, Fond for lyd og bilde, Nordisk Film & TV Fond and Nordmedia.
Broadcasters that have secured rights include TV2 Norway, Svt, Yle, Arte, Vrt Belgium, Srf Switzerland, while theatrical distributor Euphoria Film has nabbed domestic rights and Salzgeber & Co Medien German distribution rights. First Hand Films, who came on board two years ago, is sales rep. The release in Norway is set for November 2020.
The music doc tells the whole story, how three young boys from Oslo -Magne Furuholmen,...
- 8/22/2019
- by Annika Pham
- Variety Film + TV
This year has been awash with nostalgia for the final year of the Sixties and the end of the 20th Century (a.k.a. 1999), but Stranger Things is bringing the Eighties back in a, like, totally major way. The upcoming third season of the hit Netflix series (set to premiere July 4th on the streaming service) finds the Hawkins, Indiana crew navigating adolescence, as well as a paranormal phenomenon or two, over their school vacation in 1985. Aside from the near constant supernatural threats, we have to admit we envy them.
- 7/1/2019
- by Jordan Runtagh
- Rollingstone.com
Finn Wolfhard, the young actor who played one of the leads in Netflix's hit Stranger Things, has turned his attention from replicating the Eighties on the show to the Nineties on Twitter. Yesterday, the 13-year-old posted video of himself playing the opening chords to Nirvana's "Lithium" on an unplugged electric guitar.
On Stranger Things, Wolfhard played Mike Wheeler, an inquisitive preteen who will stop at nothing to find his missing friend, Will Byers, and who befriends a girl his age at the same time his friend goes missing. In an interview with Vulture,...
On Stranger Things, Wolfhard played Mike Wheeler, an inquisitive preteen who will stop at nothing to find his missing friend, Will Byers, and who befriends a girl his age at the same time his friend goes missing. In an interview with Vulture,...
- 8/15/2016
- Rollingstone.com
Coldplay bassist Guy Berryman has unveiled a new stage show in Berlin with his side project band. The group, named Apparatjik, also consists of A-ha guitarist Magne Furuholmen, Mew singer-guitarist Jonas Bjerre and producer Martin Terefe. A photo posted by the band on Twitter shows the foursome dressed in metallic army uniforms, accompanied by neon gas masks and helmets with antlers attached. Ahead of their stage show this weekend at Berlin's (more)...
- 3/25/2011
- by By Lewis Corner
- Digital Spy
A-ha have announced that they will play a one-off concert at London's Royal Albert Hall. The Norwegian pop band, who have decided to disband after 25 years of recording and touring, will celebrate their debut album Hunting High And Low by playing the entire record in a special live performance on October 8. Keyboard player Magne Furuholmen told Pa: "The Royal Albert Hall (more)...
- 5/12/2010
- by By Paul Millar
- Digital Spy
Pop veterans a-ha will mark the 25th anniversary of the release of their debut album by performing the disc in its entirety at a special London concert later this year. The Norwegian stars shot to fame with their hit song "Take On Me" in the 1980s and reunited in 1998 after a four year hiatus.
Last October, a-ha announced plans to split after completing their final world tour, titled "Ending on a High Note", at the end of this year. But the band will give fans attending their gig at the prestigious Royal Albert Hall a rare treat when they play their first release, "Hunting High and Low", in full for the first time ever.
Guitarist Magne Furuholmen says, "The Royal Albert Hall has always been one of our favorite places in the world to play. To perform here one final time - and play our first album in its entirety,...
Last October, a-ha announced plans to split after completing their final world tour, titled "Ending on a High Note", at the end of this year. But the band will give fans attending their gig at the prestigious Royal Albert Hall a rare treat when they play their first release, "Hunting High and Low", in full for the first time ever.
Guitarist Magne Furuholmen says, "The Royal Albert Hall has always been one of our favorite places in the world to play. To perform here one final time - and play our first album in its entirety,...
- 5/12/2010
- by AceShowbiz.com
- Aceshowbiz
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, '80s fans, but a-ha, the Norwegian band that gave us arguably the greatest music video of all time, is calling it quits after three decades and 35 million albums sold. The band had one real hit: 1985's "Take On Me," which featured the inscrutable chorus of "Take on me/take me on" and whose sketchy animated-live action video won six Moon Men at the MTV Video Music Awards. The feather-haired threesome—Morten Harket, Magne Furuholmen and Paul Waaktaar-Savoy—never again sniffed that kind of popularity in the states. The trio's only subsequent song of note was the theme to the James Bond film The Living Daylights. But outside the U.S.,...
- 4/28/2010
- E! Online
What do you get when you combine Coldplay bassist Guy Berryman, Magne Furuholmen from a-ha, Jonas Bjerre from Mew and producer Martin Terefe? Why, a new supergroup with a Swedish name, of course. Apparatjik, which is a Swedish term for people who create bottlenecks in otherwise efficient organizations (!), first formed to provide music for a BBC show called Amazon Tribe: Songs for Survival (!!!)....
- 2/5/2010
- Pastemagazine.com
Reuniting in 1998 after 4 years in hiatus, a-ha confirm that they will split after finishing one last world tour in 2010. "As a consequence, a-ha will not be releasing any further albums in the future," it was announced on the band's official website.
"We've literally lived the ultimate boy's adventure tale, through a longer, more rewarding career than anyone could hope for," they said in a statement. "Doing this now will give us a chance to get more involved in other meaningful aspects of life, be it humanitarian work, politics, or whatever else - and of course through new constellations in the field of art and music."
The band also thank fans for their support. They stated further, "We are retiring as a band, not as individuals. Change is always difficult and It is easy to get set in one's ways. Now it is time to move on."
Details about the final...
"We've literally lived the ultimate boy's adventure tale, through a longer, more rewarding career than anyone could hope for," they said in a statement. "Doing this now will give us a chance to get more involved in other meaningful aspects of life, be it humanitarian work, politics, or whatever else - and of course through new constellations in the field of art and music."
The band also thank fans for their support. They stated further, "We are retiring as a band, not as individuals. Change is always difficult and It is easy to get set in one's ways. Now it is time to move on."
Details about the final...
- 10/16/2009
- by AceShowbiz.com
- Aceshowbiz
Norwegian group A-ha have announced that they are splitting up. The trio, consisting of Morten Harket, Magne Furuholmen and Paul Waaktarr-Savoy, will disband in December following a farewell tour for their fans. In a statement, the band explained that the time was right to explore "other meaningful aspects of life, be it humanitarian work, politics, or whatever else". They added: "We are retiring as a band, not as individuals. Change is always difficult and it (more)...
- 10/15/2009
- by By Daniel Kilkelly
- Digital Spy
Generally, I hate synth-pop. Ok, that’s not entirely true; as a child of the 80’s, I have a very uncomfortable, and warm place in my heart for classic synth-pop, but the modern derivatives make me break out in hives, cold sweats, and odd esoteric rashes. Synth-pop, as a rule, horrifies me; warranting a review of it for Fangoria. If something terrifies you, however titillating the experience may be, it is definitely worthy of mentioning it here.
However, -as with any endeavor --talent shows through time and again; breaking down the barriers and pre-dispositions we fabricate for ourselves. Such has been the case with Germany’s And One. Formed in 1989, after a chance meeting between Chris Ruiz and Steve Naghavi in a Berlin disco, And One has acquired a tremendous body of work -and added an even larger amount of vibrancy to the world of synth-pop -transcending the limitations of...
However, -as with any endeavor --talent shows through time and again; breaking down the barriers and pre-dispositions we fabricate for ourselves. Such has been the case with Germany’s And One. Formed in 1989, after a chance meeting between Chris Ruiz and Steve Naghavi in a Berlin disco, And One has acquired a tremendous body of work -and added an even larger amount of vibrancy to the world of synth-pop -transcending the limitations of...
- 3/21/2009
- Fangoria
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