Scandinavian Silence (2019) User Reviews

Excruciating

[mashakene · 1/10 · 13 February 2024]

Stilted dialog, repeated drone footage, lame narrative, wannabe acting... Where to begin? This film wriggles and squirms to be a Nordic Noir, but it's just plain gray and boring.

Pointless driving around in pretentious black and white snowy landscape, throwing platitudes at each-other, the two rather unsympathetic protagonists don't seem to have any other function than just make it somehow look as if actual people were involved in the story that we, the viewers, are supposed to care about. And yet, I don't think anybody really gives a damn.

I could have been an ok short film, but the thin plot wears even thinner with every passing minute and you are left drained as the luke warm dishwater evaporates with agonizing slowness.

Still waters run deep

[celer-97819 · 9/10 · 10 April 2019]

Himself's movies are like that. Visually appealing but with a simple and realistic plot-line. Its three acts run through three perspectives, two in which the main protagonists monologue in turn and one in which no talking is necessary. This tri-vocal vision of a very limited series of events blurs repetition with unique overhead views of winter forest landscapes. So much so that it's close to those old black and white movies that made nonverbal communication the highlight of the movie. I think "Scandinavian Silence" is about the unique Northern view of the world, which is very somber, cold, but also beautiful.I liked that it was sort of a 1h15m music video. It made me wonder how well some long scenes from this movie would match with a slow song, like soso's "hungover for three days straight (dont matter)". I rate it so highly (9 out of 10) because it achieved a cinematic effect reminiscent of Memento, but with coherent emotional depth to it. It's probably not for everyone but it was very well done.