Early in HBO’s Swedish-language adaptation “Beartown,” two people are running desperately through the snow. One is carrying a rifle, and the other is doing their best to avoid getting shot. Their faces are obscured, any telling identification avoided, but the chase ends with the hunter and prey isolated on a frozen lake, the latter kneeling in front of the former, before the image cuts to black just before a shot rings out.
Considering the audience learns both identities before the end of the second episode, this intense introductory scene isn’t meant to tease a mystery. “Beartown” is a blunt story, stocked with direct lessons. Still, it’s patient about revealing its thesis, and the life-or-death stakes set up from the get-go help to prepare the audience for when normal life in a small Swedish town turns very, very ugly. For a while, it may seem like “Beartown” will...
Considering the audience learns both identities before the end of the second episode, this intense introductory scene isn’t meant to tease a mystery. “Beartown” is a blunt story, stocked with direct lessons. Still, it’s patient about revealing its thesis, and the life-or-death stakes set up from the get-go help to prepare the audience for when normal life in a small Swedish town turns very, very ugly. For a while, it may seem like “Beartown” will...
- 2/22/2021
- by Ben Travers
- Indiewire
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