Show me Love (Fucking Åmål) review

 Number 547 on the top 1000 films of all time is the Swedish coming-of-age romantic-comedy.

Agnes Ahlberg (Rebecka Lilijeberg) is a sixteen-year-old recluse. She has no friends but is secretly in love with her classmate Elin (Alexandra Dahlstrom) a party girl who hates the boring town of Amal where both girls live.

Show Me Love was Lukas Moodysson's directiorial debut. He would go onto to direct the tragic Lilya-4-ever which also starred a lost, naive female protagonist, although in far more dire circumstances tha here. To be honest, Lilya-4-ever was a far better film.

Show Me Love had the look of a low-budget teen drama. Considering its budget was nine million Swediwsh Kroner, under £80,000 (no doubt less than this thirty years ago) I guess there's a reason it looks like a test version of Skins.

Of course a low budget doesn't dictate a film being bad. However, it helps if the film has likeable characters. Both Agnes and Elin were annoying. Agnes bemoans being lonely and friendless but is rude to the only other girl who turned up to her birthday party, which quite rightfully, comes back to bite her on the arse. Meanwhile, Elin comes across as incredibly shallow.

Yes, of course, they're teenagers and that's what teenagers are like, but it also didn't make their characters heroes I wanted to see succeed. I'll concede that they became more likeable as they were allowed to mature and develop. It's just a shame that they were so damn annoying at first.

The film also had a strange ending scene as if Moodysson didn't know how to end his debut.

*spoilers*

Cornered in the school bathroom with fears of bother their relationship and sexuality being outed, the two girls choose to out their relationship to the school and are all the better for it. This would have been a good ending except then there was another scene of them drinking chocolate milk in Agnes' room. Very weird and ultimately pointless. It would have been far more powerful to have ended it with the outing scene.

Maybe I should give Moodysson some grace. This was his debut after all. Without this film, he would never have gone onto direct the heartbreaking Lilya-4-ever.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009) review

 Number 466 on the top 1000 films of all time is the Swedish thriller 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo."

Mikael Blomkyist (Michael Nyqvist) is a disgraced journalist who has just lost a high-profile libel case. He is enlisted by Henrik Vanger (Sven-Bertil Taube) the patriarch of the wealthy Vanger family - to solve the four decade disappearance, and suspected murder, of his niece Harriet. Mikael joins forces with the brilliant, but troubled hacker Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) to solve the mystery.

Two years ago, I watched the 2011 American remake of this film which starred Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara. It was ranked forty-three steps above the original. IMDB thought the remake was better - perhaps it was with Rooney Mara deservingly receiving a Best Actress Oscar nod. However, the 2011 remake could only run because the original walked first.

This film was gripping and enthralling with plenty of twists and turns. Nyquist and Rapace were every bit the quals of Craig and Mara. Best of all, the accents were more in line with what I would from a Swedish film; in the remake, the accents were all over the place. Not the case here.

One thing I didn't like about either film was the romantic subplot between Lisbeth and Mikael. In the remake, it was more romantic, but in the original, it was physical. In both films, Lisbeth is the initiator. However, Lisbeth was subject to a horrific rape from her legal guardian - of which she took an awesome but vicious revenge. But she then initiates sex with Mikael. And I thought this was unrealistic. Surely the last thing an SA survivor would want to do is to have sex with another man. It was unbelievable and contrived.

This isn't to disparage Rapace's performance of course. She earned numerous awards for a reason. Salander was a difficult character to play, but Rapace did her justice - like I said, she was every bit as convincing as Rooney Mara. Nyquist was also good as the journalist who upon stumbling upon an even bigger mystery, soon finds himself dangerously out of his depth.

Unconvincing and unnecessary love story aside, I thought the Girl with a Dragon Tattoo was a thrilling watch. Perhaps even better than its 2011 American remake.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo review

 Number 423 on the top 1000 films of all time is David Fincher's 2011 remake of the Swedish 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.'

Mikhail Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) is a Swedish journalist who has lost everything in a libel case brought against him businessman Hans-Erik Wennerstrom. Businessman Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer) offers him a chance of redemption if Mikhail can solve the forty-year old disappearance of his grandniece Harriet. Mikhail enlists the help of emotionally damaged hacker Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara.)

TGWTDT was the latest offering in the Scandi-noir trend that was dominating the airwaves in the late 2000s and early 2010s. Based on Stieg Larsson's book of the same name, TGWTDT joins the tradition along with Jo Nesbo, Henning Mankell, the Bridge and the Killing. So much of Scandi-noir is rooted in its Scandinavian setting. The mighty mountains, imposing glaciers and remote settings lend themselves well to grisly murders. Frosty temperatures and frostier attitudes all add to the Gothic horror.

And that's why I found the accents so weird. I understand this is an American remake, so I wouldn't expect the actors to be speaking in Swedish, but the accents were inconsistent. Christopher Plummer did well, but Rooney Mara and Robin Wright, who played Mikhail's editor and occasional lover, less so. Daniel Craig didn't bother with one at all. He chose to do this, as the thought it would sound silly otherwise. And it did. Either have all the actors do accents or none of them.

Daniel Craig received star-billing for this well-crafted thriller, but Rooney Mara was the true star. She received a Best Actress nod and it was well-earned. Lisbeth Salander - an emotionally shut down, misanthrope would be a difficult character to play. How do you make her likable without making her annoying? But Rooney Mara brought an excellent amount of vulnerability to the role. And, of course, we have to talk about the horrific scenes where Salander was raped and sodomised. These were brutal, intense scenes and Mara was fantastic.

If I were to criticise the film for anything, it would be the ending. *Spoiler alert* After the main mystery is solved, Plummer rewards Blomkvist by providing him evidence that will help him take down Wennerstrom. However, the evidence proves fruitless. So, Salander helps by hacking him and discovering he is laundering money for organised crime. She then empties his accounts. It was all good, but it seemed like a strange addendum that didn't match the rest of the film. I guess they were bringing everything full circle, but it seemed like Fincher was setting up a second film, rather than finishing this one.

Nevertheless, TGWTDT was an expertly-crafted thriller with a career-high performance from Rooney Mara.

Let the Right one in review

 Number 332 on the top top 1000 films of all time is the Swedish, romantic horror 'Let the Right One in.'

Oskar (Kare Hedebrant) is a twelve year-old who is being bullied in school. He also has a troubled home life. One wintry evening, he meets a mysterious child called Eli (Lina Leandersson) who is harbouring a dark secret. Eli is a two-hundred year old vampire who has the form of a twelve-year old child.

This film very much reminded me of Stephen King's Carrie. A troubled child is terribly bullied. They are then aided by supernatural forces to overcome their bullies. Whereas Carrie has special powers, Oskar has unknowingly fallen in love with a vampire. And it s this love story that drives the film. Despite being far from conventional, it was sweet seeing the story unfold.

Oskar meets Eli in a playground while it is snowing. This may seem like a suspicious and an unlikely place to begin a romance, it is believe as we see how isolated Oskar has become. As the film progresses, his and Eli's relationship develops further and even when Eli's true nature is revealed, Oskar isn't scared away. The two of them even use Morse code to secretly communicate with each other.

I also enjoyed how the 'horror' was underplayed. Modern horror film tend to over-rely on tacky CGI or a jumpscare every five seconds. Sure this is scary once or twice, but it becomes very tedious if it's done all the time. Much of the horror in 'Let the Right One in' happens off-camera making it even scarier. The creepy atmosphere is alluded to either with creepy music or clever angles rather than excess gore. And then this makes the on-screen horror moments truly terrifying. Whether this was a character bursting into flames or Eli's eyes bleeding, this film had its genuinely scary moments.

And a quick note on Kare and Lina. Both of them were great in the lead roles. I don't think all the child actors were great especially those bullying Oskar, but the two leads gave good performances.

Overall, I enjoyed this film. It worked as a romance and as a horror. It had some endearing moments, but some truly scary ones too.

Persona review

 Number 172 on the top 1000 films of all time is Ingmar Bergman's psychological thriller Persona.

Alma (Bibi Andersson) is a nurse charged with looking after Elisabet Volgar (Liv Ullman) who has inexplicably become muter. Alma's matron believes Elisabet will better heal in a remote seaside cottage and send her and Alma there. Alma starts losing her minds as she finds it more and more difficult to distinguish between herself and Elisabet.

Film critic Thomas Elsaesser described Persona as "besides Citizen Kane, the most written about film in the canon," and it is easy to see why. Having watched The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries and Fanny and Alexander, I would characterise Bergman's films as classic arthouse that only diehard cinephiles would understand. Persona is no exception to this.

As the film begins, we are treated to an abstract collection of images including a tarantula, a crucifixion, all culminating with a young boy waking up in hospital. From there, we cut to Nurse Alma in the most minimalist hospital ever, being assigned her new charge of Elisabet. We then immediately see Alma's self-doubt about being able to care for her.

Things only get weirder when Alma and Elisabet move to the seaside cottage and Alma begins confiding in Elisabet about her own anxieties before eventually confessing to cheating on her husband by having an orgy with some teenage boys, one of them impregnating her which she later aborts. Elisabet then tells her that she should go to bed, but Alma dismisses this as a dream.

Upon delivering the mail, Alma reads a letter that Elisabet has written and find that her charge is silently studying and mocking her behaviour and a fight ensues. What was also interesting was Bergman's minimalist soundtrack. In pivotal scenes, such as the fight scene, where you might expect there to be music, Bergman solely employed silence. This did wonders for raising the suspense.

As did Bergman's minimalist style. Everything was so plain from the costumes to the interior set designs to even the seaside location. There was nothing there to distract you from the action happening on screen. 

As Alma's mental health deteriorates, she finds it harder to distinguish herself from Elisabet. At the film's conclusion, Elisabet's husband arrives and confuses Alma for his wife. Despite Alma initially correcting him, she eventually accepts her new identity and makes love with Mr Vogler. The film climaxes with Alma narrating Elisabet's tragic backstory. She became pregnant with Mr Vogler, but believing she lacked motherliness, she started hating her unborn child and repeatedly tried to abort it without success. When the child was born, she continued to hate it and prayed for its death.

The monologue is then repeated, but with the focus on Alma before a split screen shows both women's faces side-by-side, symbolising the changes of identity. Both women are also dressed very similarly in black dresses with the same hairstyle and they are very difficult to distinguish, all further symbolising Alma's deteriorating mind. After the monologue, Elisabet becomes completely catatonic and Alma later leaves with the camera showing that she is being filmed by a cameraman and a director. I thought that the two would undertake a full role reversal with Alma becoming catatonic and Elisabet regaining the ability to speak - whether she actually lost it in the first place is still up for debate.

As are many different aspects of this film. Why the imagery of the crucifixion? Why the footage of Buddist Monks self-imolating or the infamous Stroop Report photograph? Why did Alma force Elisabet to drink her blood? And why was Alma being filmed at the end? All of these questions and more have been analysed with no conclusive answer given. And I cannot offer any more answers here. For I am not a cinophile or film critic. I guess I liked the film, but it was also very surreal and very confusing. Instead, I'll concur with Bergman who has refused to give any concrete interpretations in favour of viewers making their own opinions.