Blackwater (2023) User Reviews

Best as a drama

[dakjets · 8/10 · 6 April 2023]

Top reviews. A crime series you just have to watch, I read. Could this live up to expectations?

After watching it, my answer is both yes and no.

No, in the sense that the series is not very exciting after a brutal double murder. A strange investigation starts and we quickly understand that this will take time to be solved. It is a slow crime story. You have to be patient here.

Not bad, but cumbersome and time-consuming.

What I have to admit I liked the most were the incredible characters and environments that are portrayed in this series by some of Sweden's very best actors. The series is about two different eras, and manages to juggle between them well. It is particularly in the era that is about the 70s that I find exciting and interesting. A sect that wants to turn its back on society, small-time criminal villagers, a mysterious Finnish woman appears and more. This is incredibly well described and an insight into a recent past.

In sum, I would therefore recommend the series. But don't expect a crime thriller with lots of action, but a comprehensive story that is carefully uncovered.

More than a murder story

[archanademonia · 8/10 · 27 April 2023]

This is so much more than just a murder story. It's also a brilliant semi-dramatic and quite touching story about Annie, Mia and Birger's lives living in the middle of nowhere (and then some) somewhere in Sweden. The first episode I was confused but I quickly understood the method of storytelling, and I was intrigued so I kept watching. After episode 2 I was hooked. I was a bit creeped out by the realization of how difficult things were back then (1973) without access to the technology we have today, and that made me feel like this show is special from a lot of other crime stories. Some events I guessed pretty early what was going on, and other events had me surprised.

The calm but yet hostile atmosphere that was presented in ep 1 was managed throughout. I'd say this is a relaxing watch for anyone interested in fictional crime.

Well directed, beautiful cinematography and talented actors

[kristiannylund-92986 · 8/10 · 19 February 2023]

Rolf Lassgård and Pernilla August bring passion and authenticity to two of many characters in a remote northern Swedish community, haunted by a murder almost 20 years prior. The story takes us on a journey from the 70's to the 90's without any artificial sensations in favour for a realistic tale of individual ordeals to come to terms with the actions of the past to understand the struggles of the present. Pernilla August is supported by her equally talented daughters. Rolf Lassgård demonstrates again that he delights the viewers with his portrail of an every day character who brings about clarity and truth to a tale where intolerence and injustice cripples people and society.

Charming drama, but a slow burning mystery

[xyntacx · 6/10 · 6 April 2023]

The strengths here are the drama and the scenery, but it falls short on tempo and how plot twists are connected to the main storyline and cues. It's not like you would think "Of course! Why did I not think of that? That was clever!" Instead, it is like you watch some drama that you become invested in, but in the end, it does not matter much. So, they could have portrayed almost anything to provide filling time. Based on a book I haven't read, I cannot comment on the adaptation, but I strongly suspect you would not feel the same disconnect reading the book. Ultimately, this mini series feels unsatisfying as a murder mystery series, which unfortunately was my main expectation going in. But, if you just want some slow moving drama spiced with murder mysteries and a 70's collective imagery to go with it (and along with that, contentions on sexual liberty and political themes of the day), this is totally worth watching. And then you might land on a better rating as well.

Just pull up your skirt!

[freyjalind · 6/10 · 18 June 2023]

When walking through the woods in a very long, dark and thick skirt.. why not pull it up? When walking through moss, why not pull op your skirt. When wading through a river .. why not pull up your goddam skirt!

Just this is perplexing me about this series .. and it's only the first episode.

Why, in all these kind of Nordic noir series, does every single character have to be either strange, tormented or severely stupid ? Does an actor have to have gone through struggles to become a good actor? If so many of these actors have had it perhaps to comfortable.

See it? Yes why not -it's an ok learning experience.

Time's arrow

[rasmusahlmark · 10/10 · 12 March 2023]

This is one of the best Scandinavian series I have seen in a long time. But don't come expecting a standard Nordic crime series. This is more a crime story in the sense that Hamlet is a crime story. It's about man and nature, time's arrow and existential questions - and the acting is superb. They manage to make something work that usually never works: to have a younger and an older version of most of the characters, since it takes place in 1973 and 1991. Highly recommended if you like Twin Peaks and Top of the Lake - but I would also point to brilliant period recreations like Fanny and Alexander or Dazed and Confused.

Hunt for a killer, I'll say it again

[pigsmiceandmen · 8/10 · 16 April 2023]

Mmmmmm...The review with 'boring boring boring' as the header is the key to why you should watch this. He/She don't get it,Never lived amongst the rocks. Praise be. Lets talk Rolf Lassgård. That frame, the look over the shoulder with a rye almost desperate glance. The whispering voice that booms. The cheek of him to be so good. It's almost annoying. Lets talk about the overall brilliance of the casting. The Pernill family in real life, as Mother and two daughters playing Mother and two daughters in the show. It's genius, and it works. Like that wasn't interesting enough lets talk about Sven Boräng who plays a younger Rolf Lassgård. What a fantastic example of an actor totally owning his craft. He must of spent hours on end shadowing Lassgård's every move and nuance because he nailed it to the point you are watching Rolf. Wonderful work. Now I can talk about the music, because it is music and not soundscaping. Yuk. I work as a composer often with nordic noir. I put myself forward for this show when I first got wind of it's pre production. When I was told Mattias Bärjed was on it, I was so happy. Perfect. So great to hear the feel of the water, the rocks, the time frame. Odd, catchy and totally appropriate. But then he was in a great band and, moreover he composed for 'Hunt for a Killer'. I reviewed it a couple of years back and said it was a game changer for nordic noir. I am British but have spent many many years in Finland,Sweden, Norway. Folk who find a lot of these series 'slow/long winded' need to spend serious time in these places to understand the pace, the culture. Then they will understand. Maybe.

Boring, slow, and SO predictable

[andreassilow · 1/10 · 11 February 2023]

What is it wíth Swedish film/TV? Why do they think that numb acting and slow pace, combined with a standard intrigue is good? Not even the August family (there are a lot of them here...) make it, their acting is so bad it's a big question they made it in to basic stage school. And the resumes in the beginning of every episode are so confused they are just big laughs. So poor it's actually fun to watch, a real turkey!

E.g. The main characters find out that they should ask a woman in Finland, maybe some 1,000 miles from where they are, including one ferryline the distance of at least 14 hours, a pretty simple question, did she have a student named NN? Of course they decide to go there! Using phone is of course not an option! So, they go for maybe three days, knocks on the door (lucky she is home!), and ask her the question, it takes maybe three minutes. She answers "no", and they leave... It's so stupid it's hilarous!

As far as I know, the novel it's based on is supposed to be written of one of their best, but I really wonder... Have read quite a few ones, and it's hard to believe that this extremely thin story is based on anything worth to read.

Love it

[annawalfridson · 8/10 · 18 February 2023]

Hope they do more like this. Didnt wanted it to end. The August family and Lassgård is excellent.

I especially liked the 70's part of it, it felt like I was in that pediod of time with the clothes, music, cars and so on.

Didnt think it was obvious what was going to happen, it is very mysterious and special and I can understand why its not suitable for everyone.

Its a serie where you dont do anything else than whatch it, cause if you look at the phone at the same time you might miss clues. I think I will watch it again sometime just to understand some of the mysterious parts in the beginning and just to se the beautiful nature up in north. And ofcourse dont forget the music its perfect.

Fascinating slow burner

[laduqesa · 8/10 · 1 June 2023]

The series proceeds at a methodical pace akin to travel in the remote area of Sweden that it's set in. It was confusing at first with the jumps from 1973 to 1991 but once one got to grips with who the characters were and how they changed with age, the episodes were easy enough to follow.

I don't care about the anachronisms of certain cars being manufactured after the events or products shown not existing till later in the century. To me, the atmosphere and surroundings evoked by the different years were convincing.

There were two unexplained deaths - murders - in the two years covered by the series. The perp of the earlier incident was clearly not the main suspect but it took me till episode five to be sure of who it really was. Unfortunately, the 1991 murder was signalled far less delicately in the script and it was pretty obvious who'd done it.

I loved the touches such as the party ferries between Finland and Sweden. I've been on them in the 80s and 90s as well as the ones between Finland and Estonia. The remote vastness of the north with its untarmacked roads evoked strong memories of when I lived in Finland - our cottage only had a dirt road to it even though we were in the south. So many of the buildings and landscapes of where I lived were similar to areas in the series.

In short, even without the memories, I'd have loved this and recommend it.

I like the series but the timeline does not match the actors.

[janvandoren-19050 · 8/10 · 26 November 2023]

As someone who grew up in the 70's ( although not in Sweden ) I like the the sense of the 70's in those parts of the series that play in the 70's. Also the story line ( although slow ) I like. However... the switches between 1973 and 1991 I don't understand when it comes to choice of characters. Characters that are about 30 years old in 1973 are played in 1991 by actors in their end sixties/ seventies. 30+18 is still only 48 to me, so the choice of characters playing the 1991 versions of Annie, the doctor etc are way off, although played well. On the other hand Mia seems to fit in the timeline.

In short... I like the story line by I am not convinced and confused by the timeline.

Toooo sloooooow for my liking

[per-181 · 4/10 · 16 January 2023]

This has been a very much hyped series. Every single newspaper reviewer in Sweden has gone completely gaga over it, claiming it to be a an absolute masterpiece. Well, maybe they have jumped to their unanimous conclusion a bit too hastily.

Don't get me wrong - it's not bad. But brilliant it certainly is not. The basic culprits are two: Firstly, the tempo is dreadfully slow, like nothing I have seen before. Frozen treacle runs faster. Nothing, I mean nothing at all, happens, or at least so it seems.

Secondly, we have the severe problems with chronology, which become most obvious when looking at the vehicles.

It is supposed to take place in 1973, but the black and white police Saab is a 1976 model. The black Cadillac that is supposed to be a banger is way too new - and none of these were imported until decades later. Anyway, these farm boys would never have been able to afford one in 1973.

The shopkeeper's clapped out Volvo Duett has seats from a late seventies Volvo 240. The policeman's white Volvo Amazon is a 1969 model, but looks like it's been through the wars for a couple of decades. All the cars have badly worn and dented registration plates, despite the fact that this type of "ABC123" plate was introduced to the arctic region during the first quarter of 1973, just a few months before the events - so they should all look shiny and new.

The list goes on - I found over 20 anachronisms in the two first episodes alone. Nitpicking maybe, but it detracts from the drama.

Blurred dialogue

[hanscarlsen-38475 · 8/10 · 8 February 2023]

A wornout theme of an obscure quasi-religious sect taking refuge in the countryside with a supposedly charismatic leader controlling his herd with expected bad consequences.. Though the bearded prophet makes it improbable that anyone would like to follow him. The subject / message of a threatened nature by evil commercial companies fits the nowadays reborn panic of an approaching ecological disaster. Perhaps more relevant today than in the hippie context the tale is anchored in, but still...The broken-up timeline without logic and the blurred dialogue makes it incomprehensible. Good acting does not make up for the flaws. Beautiful landscape makes it watchable, as well as the female lead characters. A slightly better serie is Knutby. Has Nordic crime noir had its heyday?

Boring boring boring

[lasseman59 · 1/10 · 29 January 2023]

Had some hopes for this series, but lost interest pretty quickly.

Of course there are well-known actors, but the acting feels repetitive.

Nothing new, but everything is grinded on as before. Same design as usual, no new shades.

Then the sound, so typical for Swedish films/series.

At first you hear nothing, then a murmur and you raise the volume. Then it can suddenly become very loud when something happens.

Got bored quite quickly by the slow pace so I fell asleep, maybe just as well.

However, I think the idea was good from the beginning, to make a series of this book.

Unfortunately, however, it was not enough in the long run.

A bit of a pity, I think.

Not my cup of tea

[c-bengtsson · 2/10 · 2 September 2023]

Very nice actors and photo. It's often as it was acctually made in 1970 - and that's says it all. Film-making has developed a lot since then... Characters are not to clever, people living outside citys are more or less retarded or have severe mental issues. The whole produktion gives a bad taste in the mouth, with its demeaning and stereotypical image of rural people. Everything happens at a painfully slow pace, and the production could possibly have been somewhat better if the material had been cut down to a 90-120 minute film.

It's like nothing else that's being shown now, so if you're looking for variety in viewing, you'll find it here.

1 episode is more than enough

[MomomoZi · 1/10 · 1 April 2023]

Don't waist your time. Bad, really bad. It's TV show, not a slow burner movie. Disrespect to the audience & students can film better. Pointless. Almost fell asleep - shows some nature, birds, a bit horror/ evil music. Tries to build up and... maybe in 30th season characters will be introduced. No quality, no story line, basic filming. Amateur directing and one pf the worst screenplays. If one doesn't know how to make TV shows - no need make. There are plenty of quality ones like Shantaram. If the screening would be in cinema - I'd ask to return my money. It's that bad. And I saw a lot experimental, indi etc movies. Don't waste your precious time.

Watching grass grow

[hmkroon · 2/10 · 28 November 2023]

What started as something interesting turned out to be something of a dissapointment. Confusing switches in time. The characters were not bad. The acting was not bad. But what was spread over six separate 50 minute episodes could and should have been condensed into two episodes max. I forced myself to watch all of the episodes but i could have knitten two sweaters in the mean time in a matter of speech. The footage of the nature were beautifull but a little gloomy. The end was a little of an anticlimax. Looking back on the entire series of episodes I was dissapointed. It was something similar to watching grass grow.

What's the Swedish for anticlimax?

[tfit-45349 · 1/10 · 29 October 2023]

Warning: spoiler alert. I'm a great fan of skandi noir, but this isn't it. After six excruciating episodes that do nothing but set the depressing scene of backward backwater country trash and hippie intruders, we find it was all just a case of mistaken identity and unnecessary action to protect an innocent suspect.

The characters all seem to spend too much time underdressed for the freezing environment, and spend too much time between baths. OK, they're in the 1970s, but the production lays that on so thick you can smell it.

It makes the Appalachian inbreds in the wonderful film Deliverance look like social and cultural giants.

If, like me, you resist your better judgment and persist in the hope it will all come together, think again. Otherwise you'll end up writing a review like this one.