Ondskan – Evil

January 29, 2012 By 1 Comment
erik

"Oh my god, I'm sure that's Danny Saucedo", I thought to myself as I watched the SBS-2 screening of the Swedish film "Ondskan" ("Evil"). A bit of Googling and the IMDB indeed confirmed he was an uncredited "bully" in the film. The scene in which he appears, which is about a third of the way into the film, portrays ritualistic bullying in a Swedish private school in the 1950s. At the heart of the film is the character of Erik Ponti, who lives with violence both at school and at home, where he is also beaten by his step-father. Arriving at the private school at the age of fourteen … [Read more...]

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“Män som hatar kvinnor” på engelska – “The Girl With The Dragon Tatoo”

January 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Män som hatar kvinnor

Hollywood couldn't possibly release a film called "Men Who Hate Women", could they? Even though this was the original Swedish language title of the book by Stieg Larsson and movie, it just wouldn't work for Hollywood, would it? "The Girl With The Dragon Tatoo" sounds far more reasonable, far more exotic, doesn't it? Aside from the name change (which was also adopted for the English subtitled release of the Swedish books and films), I thought they've done a pretty good job of turning the Swedish crime page-turner into a Hollywood blockbuster. "There's nothing to worry about", I told my … [Read more...]

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Swedish Fest on TV

October 9, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Program on SBS TV Australia about rituals, including Sami animism in Sweden

Oh my goodness, we've had a Svensk-fest on SBS television over the last few days. There have been a few films and one documentary which I've noticed with a Swedish connection. It all started with the film Harry's Daughters which I tried to "get into". As the film's title implies, it's about a man who has two daughters. They're both expecting babies around the same time. One of the daughter's gives birth to a child, while the other is still-born. I have a vague recollection about seeing it before, and not really getting into it. And I didn't really get into it when it screened again on … [Read more...]

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Life’s Rich Tapestry

February 13, 2010 By 2 Comments
Crossing Oxford and Crown streets

Despite the rain it was a rather busy night out and about in Sydney. Oxford Street was absolutely packed with people who had spent the day at Good Vibrations. As it was Oxford Street, none of them, of course, were actually in the clubs. They were all either looking for a late night meal, or were in queues trying to get into clubs. We, on the other hand had been to a Swedish movie, saw some Gen Y gay comedians, and even managed a visit to the "heavily-transexualled" (?) Taxi Club. The movie were saw, Allt Flytter (The Swimsuit Issue) was part of the European Film Festival at Dendy … [Read more...]

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Swedish Saturday

February 21, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Stockholm - the town hall is located in the centre of this photograph.

Sweden was, once again, the recurrent theme in my life today. The day started off simply enough with breakfast at the nearby "Book Cafe". I've been there before on several occasions, but it's normally quite busy, because the food is very good. Today, we were lucky enough to score an outside table where we watched the passing parade of Surry Hills on a Saturday. Across the road, the crowds continued to line up at the Bourke Street Bakery, which I've previously described as the only place outside of the former Soviet Union where people line up to purchase bread. Back at the "Book … [Read more...]

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Since my baby left me…

December 22, 2008 By 5 Comments
A scene from Swedish film, Heartbreak Hotel.

I watched a fantastic Swedish film on "World Movies" last night called, "Heartbreak Hotel". The film was billed as a Swedish version of "Thelma and Louise", but I think it's much more than that, although the central theme remains that of mature-age female friendship. The movie starts with a full-on exchange between the two main characters, Lisa (a doctor specialising in women's health) and Gudrun, a parking inspector. Gudrun presents Lisa with a parking ticket when she is already running late for a wedding. The phrase "f.... c...." is used repeatedly in the first five minutes of … [Read more...]

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