Collection 4 THE NORTH

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There are many many things Sweden is known for. Some of them are
the beautiful girls, „Swedish porn“ (most of the time made somewhere
else, perhaps in a basement in Brooklyn, but hey, there is
always a blonde wig to use and a sausage like in Fäbojäntan), our
nudity, clothes that all look the same from ACNE and Whyred,
August Strindberg, radical feminists, polar bears walking in the
streets (and it´s just a myth), Björn Borg, ABBA, Swedish meatballs,
the chef from the muppets and finally our depressing movies.
I guess every Swedish film maker wants to be the new Ingmar Bergman.
To live in Sweden is alright. It´s really dark and cold in the winter, so you
become melancholic or depressed easily, just get seized by this melancholic,
depressing mood in a second and then the summer just rains
away to the sound of pouring rosé wine.
You get depressed because you´ve got really nothing to be depressed
about, or at least that is what most Swedish film makers would like us to
think.
Swedes call it „Radhusångest“. A radhus is an ordinary house that looks
just like all the rest on the same street, the type of house that Malvina
Reynolds sings about in „Little Boxes“ on The Weeds-jingle. Ångest is
just angst. Ordinary fuckin‘ angst.
Everyone‘s got their luxury issues going on and I just wanna scream
AAAAAAAHHHHHH when I see one of those boring, melodramatic films
CAUSE EVERYTHING IS TOO ALRIGHT! Where is the intrigue? Where
is the background story? Where is the drama? Should I relate to all that
bullshit about your life is being a mess and the only reason you´re life is a
mess and you´re depressed is you having a 40 years old midlife crisis and
nothing ever happens to you except from feeling guilty cause you fantasize
about sleeping with the neighbour just to feel alive?
Are we so just alright, just fine, just so ordinary, that we have to complain
about how ordinary our lives are? Everything is filmed in a light that
makes you think of abduction more than anything else. Or someone just
sitting and staring out of the window with empty eyes to the sound of
rain drop indie. Well, true, it is a fact: If you‘re making a comedy you will
never win one of those prestigious prizes they give out at indie film festivals.
Your movies have to be dark and complicated but totally uncomplicated
in the background. All you need to remember is if you´re writing
about a happy happy joyful reality it is just not OK on film.
So, every Swede I know hates Swedish movies and nobody wants to
watch them because of all the cliches. We laugh at the miserably drunk
like in Sällskapsresan (Lasse Åberg, 1980) and at people characters
representing the stereotype we´re so afraid to be. The Svensson. The
Average Jones type. The ordinary guy sitting next to us on the bus (OK
not next to us, more like five seats behind us because here you don´t sit
next to someone on the bus if it´s not filled).
But here we also have something we call „Jäntelagen“, it´s the idea of
believing that you are not better than anybody else. You should never
think you are somebody special and if you say it out loud, well, then
you´re just a braggart. Lets keep that in mind as well.
What I miss in Swedish cinema are real scripts of real problems.
Perhaps you still wanna give it a try though.
Do you have Radhusångest?
A GLIMPSE OF