Here is my three favorite films from the last decade.
Hata Göteborg
A movie where a group of adolescent boys has to chose which path they want to take in life. The violent one, joining a firm and fight other firms, or another one, in this case a rather cultural one, offered by a backpacker coming to visit the main character after being away for a long time. It’s authentic and has good acting and a believable script. “Hata Göteborg” comes from the firms chanting, since they don’t like the soccer team from Gothenburg…
Four Shades of Brown (Fyra nyanser av brunt)
Four stories weaved together thematically to one movie. Even though (or perhaps because) it’s made by a group of comedians, it’s a real tragic one, but you still get to laugh a bit, or at least smile sadly. One of the stories is about Christer that burns his face in the crematorium for animals that he works in. The face gets totally distorted, and his friends and family can’t ignore his looks, the actor/comedian Robert Gustafsson won a Guldbagge (the Swedish equivalent of Oscar) for this extremely tragic but somehow funny role. The film also won prize for best directing, best actress, and best supporting role.
Day and Night (Dag och natt)
A different kind of road movie. Usually road movies is about unexpected events during a trip. Well, this one is well directed in more than one way. Almost everything takes place in the main characters car, he is a successful architect and family father, but he has less successful parts of his life of course. This day he drives around and picks up different persons that has played a part in his life, and talks to them for a while to clear things out, while he is trying to get to the end. The list of actors is about the most impressive I’ve seen in a film since Bergman, and it really pays of. It’s a dark and contemplating film, but never slow that you shouldn’t miss. The only on this list by a danish auteur, Simon Staho.
Is there some film you think should be on this list that’s not? Since I haven’t seen every single Swedish film from these years yet, the chance is I get a new favourite!