Cool & Crazy

If you see only one film this year about a Norwegian fishing village's male choir, make it Cool & Crazy, an international award-winning documentary poised for cult status. Move over Buena Vista Social Club, here comes the Berlevag Male Choir--a group of about 30 men ranging in age from 29 to 96--who are bringing worldwide fame to Berlevag, which Isak Dinesen put on the map with her acclaimed story "Babette's Feast." The fishing village, population 1,300, was once a thriving port, but in the face of economic hardship and brutal weather (not to mention a shortage of women), the choir members find refuge in the traditional ballads and hymns they so stirringly perform. This "docu-musical" profiles the choir members, including a die-hard Communist frustrated in his failure to win new recruits, a reformed hash addict, and a pair of elderly brothers who heat things up considerably with candid talk about their sex lives, as they journey to Russia for a performance as triumphant as the Buena Vista Social Club's historic Carnegie Hall concert. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (K. Lee Benson)