Scandinavian Film Week
Since Scandinavia is traditionally considered the birthplace of Santa Claus, and of the New Year itself, we decided that it would be very symbolic to dedicate a film critic’s column to new Scandinavian films in January.
Tuva
A bohemian costumed biopic about the famous Scandinavian Tova Jansson. She was born into a family of artists. Her father is a famous sculptor and her mother is a graphic designer. The events unfold in the difficult post-war years after 1944. The young creative person Tove searches in vain for himself on the basis of painting. However, despite all her efforts, she fails to get a scholarship, and the woman is experiencing serious financial difficulties. Tuva is also unlucky in love. But everything changes when her stories about the little Moomin people become incredibly popular. This is a film about the pains of creativity, about finding oneself, about bohemian life, about boundless inner freedom, about unconventional love, about painstaking work and well-deserved success.
Year: 2021
Duration: 100 minutes
Country: Finland, Sweden
18+
Bergman Island
This film can indirectly be called a biopic. Emmy and Chris are a married couple. They have been together for a long time and are still in love. The main characters are both filmmakers. One day they come to the Swedish island of Fore, which is also called Bergman’s Island. It is here that the outstanding Swedish director Ingmar Bergman lived, worked and is buried. Here, a lot of things remind of him, and even special excursions to iconic places run. Emmy is a huge fan of Bergman’s films and dreams of making a documentary about her idol. However, during an educational vacation on the island, Emmy and Chris’ relationship is put to the test.
Country: France, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Mexico
Year: 2021
Duration: 112 minutes
16+
Taste of life
Lyrical drama starring Nikolai Coster-Waldau. The action takes place in Copenhagen today. Karsten and Maggie are, at first glance, a happy married couple. They have two wonderful children and their own gourmet restaurant. Karsten is a talented chef who dreams of a Michelin star for his extraordinary establishment. At some point, the work absorbs him so much that Maggie is left completely alone with her problems. At this fateful moment, fate pushes the woman into the arms of another man, who finds time to share with her the burden of her difficult emotional state.
Country: Sweden, Denmark
Year: 2021
Duration: 104 minutes
16+
Hope
Life drama. Her heroes are already an elderly couple – Annie and Thomas. Each of them has their own children from other partners, but there are also common ones. They haven’t formalized their relationship yet. Annie is a theater director who has just successfully staged her first performance abroad. Thomas also works hard, which is why the family often lacks his attention. After another migraine on Christmas Eve, Annie goes to the doctor and learns the horrifying news – the woman has brain cancer, and the disease is incurable. A little time will allow you to win the operation. But is it worth spending the now numbered days preparing for surgery? How to explain everything to children? And how not to go crazy with drugs that now need to be taken for life?
Country: Norway, Sweden, Denmark
Year: 2021
Duration: 130 minutes
16+
Drive
Dynamic thriller. The main characters are a married couple. Lars is not a particularly successful film director, and Lisa is not a very successful actress. And they are not very happy together. At some point, young people get so tired of each other that they decide to kill. But, of course, everyone plans it separately and secretly from the other. To realize their terrible idea, the main characters of the "Journey" go to their house, which is located far from the bustle of the city in a secluded place. The official version of the trip is rest. This is what happens at first. The couple drink wine, lie in a hammock and breathe fresh air, admiring the local beauties of nature. But soon everyone proceeds to the implementation of the planned plan for the liquidation of his betrothed. At the most critical moment in their house, Lars and Lisa discover three uninvited guests – thugs who escaped from prison, configured far from peacefully to the owners. At this point, the spouses have to switch from the plan to eliminate each other to the plan of salvation.
Country: Norway
Year: 2021
Duration: 113 minutes
18+
Happy viewing!