A personal journal of film and documentary reviews, and reviews of anything else that intrigues me.
Reviews of films from Finland, Greenland, Iceland and countries traditionally considered part of Scandinavia (Denmark Norway, Sweden). I’ve included Estonia and Latvia in this category as these countries have historic links to Sweden.
Erik Poppe, “Kongens Nei / The King’s Choice” (2016) As a straight history lesson or even as a conventional war-time drama, this film doesn’t succeed: audiences…
French and French-language Films, Northern European Films
Carl Theodor Dreyer, “The Passion of Joan of Arc” (1928) In itself, this silent film is remarkable for its lead actor Maria Falconetti’s acting from the…
Middle Eastern Films, Northern European Films
Floor van der Meulen, Thomas Vroege, Issa Touma, “9 Days – From My Window in Aleppo” (2016) Filmed over nine days (hence the title) in August…
Thomas Vinterberg, “Festen” (1998) “Festen” remains the best-known and most mainstream of the various films made under Dogme 95 movement rules. Even if audiences no longer…
Lars von Trier, “Breaking the Waves” (1996) For the most part this often nihilistic film is excruciating in its slow and exacting pace, and its drama…
Riho Unt and Hardi Volmer, “Sõda” (1987) It has the look of a political satire disguised as an animal fable and I would say that the…
Riho Unt, “Kapsapea / A Cabbage” (1993) A stop-animation parody of action adventure films like the Indiana Jones movie series, “Kapsapea” revolves around the travails of…
Northern European Films, Southeast Asian Films
Joshua Oppenheimer, “The Look of Silence” (2014) A companion piece to Oppenheimer’s earlier documentary “The Act of Killing”, this film considers the effects of Indonesia’s purges…
Ingmar Bergman, “The Virgin Spring / Jungfrukällan” (1960) Perhaps not so celebrated as “The Seventh Seal”, this morality tale on the nature of humanity, the remoteness…
André Øvredal, “Troll Hunter / Trolljegeren” (2010) Inspired perhaps by the example of “The Blair Witch Project” and “Man Bites Dog” from the 1990s and “Cannibal Holocaust” from…