Norwegian train driver Odd Horten (Baard Owe) is underwhelmed by the prospect of his retirement until he meets sprightly pensioner Trygve (Espen Skjonberg), whose joie de vivre lures Odd into a brave new world of casual burglary, ski jumping, skinny dipping and daredevil driving. Although the film's insights into underdogs having their day and growing old disgracefully are hardly new, this deadpan rite-of-passage tale has the courage of its quirky convictions. Taking his tone from Roy Andersson (Songs from the Second Floor) and Aki Kaurismäki (The Man without a Past), writer/director Bent Hamer also invokes the spirit of Jacques Tati in allowing the gags to play out in their own time, while Owe's solemn impassivity owes much to Buster Keaton. Yet, for all the hilarity of the vignettes, there's a melancholy here that's subtly reinforced by John Christian Rosenlund's camerawork and John Erik Kaada's score.

Odd Horton is dependable and contained: he's a train driver retiring after 40 years of service, living a simple life. His idea of adventure is to fly from one city in Norway to another. Starting on the night of his retirement dinner, Odd has a series of dislocating experiences: a boy insists that Odd sit by his bedside while he falls asleep; misadventure causes Odd to miss his last run; he witnesses an arrest; he assists an old man and makes a friend; he takes a trip with a blindfolded driver; he adopts a dog; he takes stock late one night at the roundhouse; he revisits his mother's disappointment in him. How should he live the rest of his life?