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Charlie_Barbarossa
Reviews
Storm (2005)
Very surprising and versatile, as well as enjoyable
The movie opens with a Matrix-style fighting scene which makes me fear that this is yet another Swedish action movie that tries to do more than its budget allows. But after that follows a few quite humorous scenes in which we are introduced to DD - a twenty-something guy who lives a bachelor life in a dark dystopian Stockholm and is content with that; until some very strange people come around, and everything that happens seems to be about him in some way.
At first, the viewer is tempted to try and figure out what is dream and what is reality. But you just have to stop trying. The entire movie is surreal. It turns into a twisted mind game in which DD is the involuntary player and Eva Röse and Jonas Karlsson plays characters that try to guide him in different directions, where Lova (Röse) is apparent as the good one, even though everything gets very confusing. In a few sequences, the two are even shown as characters from computer games and comic books.
DD ends up in the small town of Vänersborg where he grew up, and in the desolate fog-shrouded surroundings he is forced to face teenage memories in a couple of very unpleasant scenes.
This is one of the most unpredictable movies I've ever seen. There is just no way of telling where the story is going, except for the fact that DD must open the mysterious metal box he's been given.
The cinematography reminds me very much of The Matrix trilogy, but the directors have experimented a lot and that makes the movie very enjoyable from an aesthetic point of view. Other sources of inspiration seems to have been "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" and "The Game". Anyway, the mix of ideas works into a very strange film in which the directors have made the very most of their budget (except for a few times when they use some really old horror-movie effects). The crazy sci-fi-thriller-action-drama-horror-circus leads on to a very touching finale in which some of the many loose ends are tied up.
I liked this movie a lot. And even though it's far from perfect, it is a very fresh new creation in Swedish film when it certainly is needed.
Den utvalde (2005)
An unintentional comedy
Being a student at Uppsala University myself, I and a few classmates went to see this movie. And we sure did laugh. Partly for recognizing most of the settings in Uppsala, but also because of the ridiculous depiction of the student life.
The students in the film spend time in a group of six, no more. They study in ways we couldn't recognize. They hang out at places where we real students do not hang out. They seem to have nothing in their heads except studying (so not true for real students, anyone can tell that). And none of their conversations sound real in any way. There are a lot of scenes in the movie that are just embarrassing to watch because of the poor script. Others are so ridiculous that they made us laugh even harder, which I believe is not the intention of the movie.
Even if I wasn't an Uppsala student, I wouldn't find the murder story nor the detective work the least bit enjoyable. It doesn't even work as a police movie.
Just a few script changes and it would be an all-out comedy. So thanks for a round of laughs, but it doesn't cover the fact that this is probably the worst movie I've seen so far this year. But I didn't expect better. Uppsala deserves a better movie taking place here, looks like I'm gonna have to do it myself.