Swedish film has run in the ditch, there is talk of crisis wherever you turn. And from a public point of view it is undeniably so. And should you believe her statement on the Guldbaggegalan does not even see our Minister of Culture on Swedish film ... But the ordinary man is still in place to watch film. Swedish and foreign, short and long, narrow and wide. Yes, there are more movies than anyone can count (okay: just under 400) and there is extra focus on Brazil and feminism, but much more than that.
Three must:
The painted bird . Cited Czech drama, praised at the Venice festival. All of us who have read Jerzy Kosinski's brutal panorama of a boy's miserable hardships in World War II Europe look with dreadful hope at this adaptation, where the festival's honorary recipient, Stellan Skarsgård, plays German soldier.
The Spy . Where did the Swedish film jump Jens Jonsson take the road after all the tributes during the 10th century? He ended up as a production director in the TV deck, but here Jonsson comes back in a Norwegian-Swedish production that tells the true story of the Norwegian film star Sonja Wigert who was extravasated as a spy for Swedish intelligence service during the Second World War.
Little Joe . One of my favorite directors, Austrian Jessica Hausner has done odd and nervous things like Hotel and Miracle in Lourdes. She is a fan of creating tricky and intellectually intriguing dramas. Here she comes with her first English-language film, which did not receive such a great reception at the festival in Cannes, but I am embarrassed anyway. It wouldn't be the first time colleagues are wrong ...
And so has the artist and filmmaker Anna Odell put powerful men in the gynecologist's chair.
And yes, okay, the festival is big on earth. In at least one aspect. You have one of the fattest awards in the global festival world: a million kronor goes to the winner of the Nordic competition - which is extra exciting for us who are so cranky that we start Nordic film.
As is often the case, this is about relationships, family ties and complex contemporaries.
As in Amanda Kernell's Charter, of course, her second film after her debut with Sameblod. But I also look forward to Norwegian Children learning to be a tangible ensemble drama that cooks of the present, and Games people play, something as unusual (here at home) as a Finnish hipster comedy.