9 posts categorized "Swedish Cinema"

November 05, 2023

NIGHT GAMES — SHOCKTOBER!

ColeSmithey.comColeSmithey.comWelcome!

Groupthink doesn't live here, critical thought does. This ad-free website is dedicated to Agnès Varda and to Luis Buñuel.

Get cool rewards when you click on the button to pledge your support through Patreon.

Thanks a lot acorns!

Your kind generosity keeps the reviews coming!

ColeSmithey.com

ColeSmithey.comColeSmithey.com

ColeSmithey.comMai Zetterling began her film career acting in Ingmar Bergman's "Torment" (1944), before switching from acting to directing after moving from Sweden to London to pursue her craft.

With "Night Games" (1966), which she co-wrote with her then husband, British novelist David Hughes, Mai Zetterling matches Bergman's filmic sophistication on every level of filmic storytelling.

ColeSmithey.com

This is filmmaking at its finest.

ColeSmithey.com

This thoroughly original work of social satire delves into the heart of childhood traumas, while taking sharp aim at '60s era European sensibilities around free-love and the narcissistic values of the bourgeoisie. 

ColeSmithey.com

Jan (Keve Hjelm) brings his fiancée Mariana (Lena Brundin) to his childhood home, a wealthy mansion estate full of horrific memories and rich furnishings. Jan indoctrinates Mariana into his debauched upbringing. Flashback sequences detail the atrocious actions of Jan's mentally unstable mother Irene (Ingrid Thulin).

ColeSmithey.com

Freud's oedipal complex takes center stage in Jan's ambitious attempt at reconciling sins of the mother by annihilating all that her sexual abuse and wealth had created.

ColeSmithey.com

Jörgen Lindström, the young actor from Ingmar Bergman's "The Silence," and "Persona," is the film's empathetic center as Jan's boyhood version.

ColeSmithey.com

"Night Games" retains its ability to shock viewers after over 50 years due to Mai Zetterling's intuitive ability to dig equally into the male and female psyche, while keeping a pure artistic metaphoric vision. This is the gift of liberation that Mai Zetterling gives her audience.

ColeSmithey.com

At last Jan and Mariana are set free to grow their relationship in fresh soil.

Amen.

ColeSmithey.com

Side note: If I'm not mistaken, "Night Games" is John Waters's favorite film!

Not Rated. 105 mins.

5 Stars THE BLOOD OF DRACULA THE BLOOD OF DRACULA ColeSmithey.com THE BLOOD OF DRACULA THE BLOOD OF DRACULA

Cozy Cole

ColeSmithey.com

September 30, 2023

HOUR OF THE WOLF — SHOCKTOBER!

ColeSmithey.comWelcome!

Groupthink doesn't live here, critical thought does. This ad-free website is dedicated to Agnès Varda and to Luis Buñuel.

Get cool rewards when you click on the button to pledge your support through Patreon.

Thanks a lot acorns!

Your kind generosity keeps the reviews coming!

ColeSmithey.com

ColeSmithey.comColeSmithey.com

ColeSmithey.comIngmar Bergman's haunting 1968 psychological thriller is, at heart, a bold reflection on the lasting effects of childhood abuse.

Filmed on the island of Fårö, Bergman announces the minimalist movie with a flourish of self-referential artistic expression to set up the bizarre narrative that follows.

Sounds of its stage set being built, under the conversation of a film crew, give way to, "Camera."

"Action."

ColeSmithey.com

Liv Ullmann speaks directly to the camera as Alma. She speaks of revelations she has discovered from reading her husband's diary.

Alma has given birth to a child on this lonely, desolate island. Her beloved artist husband Johan (Max von Sydow) has vanished.

ColeSmithey.com

Suicide perhaps. A victim of murder? We may never know.

The couple have come to the island for Johan to paint. Their love is strong, but ghosts from Johan's past haunt him. Johan's place in the world as an artist reveal subtexts of Ingmar Bergman's own self identity.

ColeSmithey.com

Johan is unable to find peaceful sleep in the couple's cold water cottage.

Dreams and nightmares blur with harsh reality.

Suspicion and regret hang in the air.

ColeSmithey.com

A dinner invitation by a coven of insulting aristocrats inhabiting a 14th century castle, leads to an explosion of social anxiety for Johan. Are the blue-bloods real, or merely composite figures from Johan's troubled imagination?

A quote from "Rosemary's Baby" springs to mind.

ColeSmithey.com

"Witches, all of them witches."

The subconscious and conscious minds of our lonely couple reveal cracks that all married couples experience.

ColeSmithey.com

Only we, the audience, can decide where the truth lies — that will take time.

ColeSmithey.com

Impeccably conceived and executed, "Hour of the Wolf" is an eloquent thing of cinematic perfection. Max von Sydow and Liv Ullmann provide stunning performances.

What is this nightmare called love?

Not Rated. 87 mins.

5 Stars ColeSmithey.com Screen Shot 2023-10-04 at 12.41.21 PM

Cozy Cole

ColeSmithey.com

July 31, 2023

TRIANGLE OF SADNESS — THE CRITERION COLLECTION

Welcome!

Groupthink doesn't live here, critical thought does.ColeSmithey.comThis ad-free website is dedicated to Agnès Varda and to Luis Buñuel.

Get cool rewards when you click on the button to pledge your support through Patreon.

Thanks a lot acorns!

Your kind generosity keeps the reviews coming!

ColeSmithey.com

 

 

ColeSmithey.comRuben Östlund's spotty social satire about smartphone-driven influencers goes on a "Gilligan's Island" styled trajectory.

"Gilligan's Island" holds up as a better example of the left roasting right-wing capitalist pigs, whose greed knows no sliver of human decency.

Ego, ego, ego.

Money, money, money.

Dirty, dirty, dirty.

ColeSmithey.com

The film's sadness comes in the form of a third act failure that dashes all hopes for the narrative to rise to its promised elevation.

ColeSmithey.com

Punchy dialogue keeps you on the hook, but the story evaporates with a ghost-in-the-machine tableau that just makes no sense.

ColeSmithey.com

Stupido.

ColeSmithey.com

Woody Harrelson nevertheless delivers a kick of comedy as Captain to a ship cruise carrying a mixed bag of social classes. Mr. Harrelson is indeed a proper Captain host to the movie.

If only Harrelson's character had more to do.

ColeSmithey.com

Check out "Don't Look Up" if you're looking for smart, sharp, and funny social satire.

Sad this movie didn't pay off on its promise.

Clunk.

Rated R. 147 mins.

2 Stars

Cozy Cole

ColeSmithey.com

 

Featured Video

SMART NEW MEDIA® Custom Videos

COLE SMITHEY’S MOVIE WEEK

COLE SMITHEY’S CLASSIC CINEMA

Throwback Thursday


Podcast Series