Joachim Trier deftly interweaves disparate themes, including ambition, love, punk rock, and the writer's life, in his debut feature-length film. Set in Oslo, Norway, Reprise begins with two fledgling novelists standing at a mailbox with their first manuscripts, and follows them through an exhilarating spiral of real and imagined events. Trier takes familiar material — the pressures of fame, the demands of art, the dangers of love — and gives it a fresh, captivating form. Fast-paced, highly intelligent, and tightly edited, the film shows that Trier learned some tricks from luminaries like Jean-Luc Godard, but his own virtuosity serves the story well — a reminder that style and substance can work together.