Tag: Scandinavian film
Fallen Leaves
Friday, February 16th, 2024 Film Reviews,You’ll have to wait until the credits roll to hear Fallen Leaves sung in Finnish, but like all Aki Kaurismäki films, there’s no shortage of music along the way. This bittersweet story about two ordinary people who find each other, in the most hesitant fashion, is one of Kaurismäki’s typical working-class fables. If you’re already […]
Lamb
Thursday, October 14th, 2021 Film Reviews,“It’s not a child, it’s an animal!” Or is it? After watching this strange, introverted chiller from Iceland you’ll never feel comfortable hearing someone refer to a baby as “a little lamb”. Like all Icelandic movies, Valdimar Johannsson’s debut feature, co-written with the novelist, Sjón, is strong on landscape. The screen is filled with sweeping […]
A White, White Day
Saturday, July 18th, 2020 Film Reviews,All nations are works in progress, but Iceland is a place in which even Nature is still experimenting. Volcanoes, glaciers, snow-topped mountains, chasms, hot springs, and a latitude that ensures whole days in summer when the sun never seems to set and days in winter when it barely shows its face. One imagines living in […]
The Square
Friday, March 9th, 2018 Film Reviews,As another Sydney Biennale looms one wonders why there aren’t more satires on contemporary art. The reason perhaps, is that reality routinely exceeds the wildest imaginings of the satirist. The beauty of Ruben Östlund’s The Square, which won the Palme d’Or in Cannes last year, lies in its understatement. It presents one bizarre scenario after […]
The King's Choice
Friday, August 25th, 2017 Film Reviews,Scandinavian history may not be a pressing concern for most Australians, but we can all recognise the importance of political courage – if only by its absence in Canberra. The King’s Choice deals with the dilemma that beset King Haakan VII of Norway when his country was invaded by the Germans in April 1940. Erik […]
Jackpot
Saturday, August 18th, 2012 Film Reviews,Like me, you may be wondering how many more ‘new Stieg Larssons’ are going to be thrown up by the vogue for Scandinavian crime fiction before the spotlight of fashion turns elsewhere. Perhaps South America is preparing a wave of depressed, alcoholic detectives. Maybe Kazakhstan has a new age crime fighter ready to go? For […]
A Royal Affair
Saturday, June 23rd, 2012 Film Reviews, Other Writing,There’s something well made in the state of Denmark. A Royal Affair is one of those films that never seems to lose its way, or take flight. Danish director, Nikolaj Arcel, has gone about his task with consummate professionalism, for which one might be thankful in light of the awful mess Sofia Coppola made of […]
Iron Sky
Saturday, May 12th, 2012 Film Reviews, Other Writing,Why is it that film-makers think the Nazis are funny? There may have been something inherently absurd about the Third Reich, with its fetish for uniforms, racial purity and Wagner, but it was no laughing matter for those obliged to share the planet with Hitler’s minions. A few weeks ago I expressed reservations about Hotel […]
The King of Devil’s Island
Saturday, May 5th, 2012 Film Reviews, Other Writing,Prison camp movies are a distinct genre, with many minor masterpieces – from I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang to Stalag 17, to Cool Hand Luke. It’s not easy to say why we find these films so compelling. Perhaps it’s because the prison environment is so mysterious and frightening to the average citizen. […]