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Bödeln och skökan (1986)
Infamous period film
"Bödeln Och Skökan" which means "The Executioner and The Harlot" is an infamous Swedish period drama from 1986. Its is directed by Hrafn Gunnlaugsson (When The Raven Flies) and based on a novel by Ivar Lo Johansson. SVT which is the biggest public owned TV station in Sweden, has recently made a lot of classic TV productions viewable online on their website, and among them is this movie.
It is an extremely dark tale about a Blacksmith in the early 18th century who gets innocently accused of theft and sentenced to death. By circumstance, he is pardoned, if he agrees to take over as the new executioner. He agrees of course, and soon he is hated by the entire village as executioners were during that time. At the local brothel he meets a beautiful young prostitute named Ursula whom he falls madly in love with. But is she really who she seem to be?
Swedish public television had almost never before shown something this violent and with this amount of disgusting imagery. The scene where the executioner first enters the brothel is nauseating. A bunch of dirty, decrepit peons are sitting around and loudly eating what looks like raw chicken with their bare hands, while the fat naked prostitutes are tending to their equally fat and naked customers in explicit detail. Stephanie Sunna Hockett was underage when shooting this movie, and yet she is seen completely naked and share some rather risqué scenes with Niklas Ek.
If Hrafn Gunnlaugsson was inspired by Samurai movies and Westerns when he made his Viking films, then this one is more reminiscent of British Renaissance-era Horror/Drama like "Witchfinder General". The normally scenic Gotlandic landscape is wreathed in fog and darkness, as the black-clad Reeves are riding by with a wagon full of prisoners behind them. The chopping block is perpetually smeared in blood as the executioner swings his sword to the delight of the cheering crowd.
Visually impressive as this movie is though, it is very lacking in the acting department. Niklas Ek does not convey the proper emotions i would expect to find in a person faced with such a horrible fate as him. Stephanie Susanna Hockett is very poorly dubbed which also takes away from the experience. There is also a whole bunch of weird "Monty Python and The Holy Grail" type humor at some points in the movie, like when the executioner is having a party with his three work colleagues and they are all sharing funny anecdotes from their work or the Igor-like tongueless jester who has been accompanying all the executioners in the cabin.
This movie has a strong story and Gunnlaugssons usual keen visual sense, but the mediocre acting and random silly parts really keep it from raking among his best.
Hrafninn flýgur (1984)
Viking Yojimbo.
"When The Raven Flies" stands as one of the best historical Action movies, to have come out of the North. Stylistically it owes a great deal to Italian Spaghetti Westerns and Japanese Jidaigeki. In fact back in the day, some critics dubbed it a "Cod Western" because of this. The setting certainly helps. The Icelandic Sagas are full of tales of Revenge, Bloodshed, Honor that must be gained and upheld and Grudges that wont let go, all told in a laconic and ominous manner. Like his heroes Kurosawa and Leone, Gunnlaugsson has a good eye for faces. Our hero Gestur, has rugged good looks, while the Viking thugs are impressively ugly. Helgi Skúlason who plays Thord deserves a special mention. He has a terrific thousand yard stare, which he displays widely whenever he is angry or has his plans ruined.
As for the plot this is a straight remake of the "Yojimbo/Fistful Of Dollars" story save for a few things. In this movie our hero is motivated by revenge, instead of monetary gain like Eastwood or unknown motives like Toshiro Mifune. There is also a moral theme running throughout the film, which questions if Gesturs really did the right thing after all.
All in all "When The Raven Flies" is a great action movie, even if it didn't change the world. The only downsides i can think of is the 80's synthesizer soundtrack which can get damn annoying after a while and the crudely designed weapons (the knifes and swords resemble giant butterknives and the axes are obviously just regular woodworking axes) but other than that it is along with the Arn movies, one of the best historical action movies from the North, ever.
Jungfrukällan (1960)
Bergman vs Death round 2
"The Virgin Spring" is in my opinion one of the greatest Period Dramas ever made and the greatest Swedish movie ever. Beautifully shot, paced and directed it is bound to haunt anyone watching it for days. It is the second and last movie Bergman made which was set in the middle ages, and for me at least appears to be a sign of Bergman reaching closure in his struggles with his questions of life, death and the after world.
Human life was cheap in the middle ages but if "The Seventh Seal" represented a positive view of mans ultimate demise, "The Virgin Spring" offers nothing but darkness. In "The Seventh Seal" no one was safe from death but in the end death came firstly to those who wanted to die (the Knights, The Blacksmith and his wife) and life to those who wanted to live (the Actors.) It was not logical but supposedly just.
In "The Virgin Spring" the same premise is turned on its head. In any movie from the same period, the character of Ingeri would have been doomed. She is ugly, crude, pregnant and she is in league with a Pagan god. Usually she would have been destroyed by the force she had conjured. But this does not happen. Instead death comes to the beautiful, virginal and Christian Karin, without any reason or explanation at all. God is silent.
"The Virgin Spring" is proof of what a virtuosic director Bergman was. The classic theatrical feeling of his movies is mixed with elements of Thriller, Horror, Western and Japanese "Jidai Geki". The final fight between Töre and the sheep herders is not your typical Swashbuckling, Errol Flynn fencing match. Töre wakes them up because he wants it to be a fair fight but other than that it is pure murder.
Unfortunately in my opinion, Bergamn never reached this level of greatness again, more or less completely abandoning period drama. But "The Virgin Spring" stands as one of the finest moments in Swedish cinema ever.
Red Heat (1988)
A piece of history, literally.
Don't expect rapid fire action from this one as it is quite the opposite, sort of like a mixture between "Sea of love" and "Rocky 4" sans boxing gloves and Soviet-baiting.
Schwarzenegger plays Danko a Soviet inspector sent to America to track down a Georgian (the Eurasian country that is) drug dealer making cocaine deals in the USSR. When arriving in the United States he makes friends (if you can call it that) with Belushis character Art Ridzik, setting the stage for a typical buddy film case of "Opposites Attract". Art is a stressed, ballsy fastmouthed cop constantly sending snarky comments Dankos way, about the corruption in the Soviet elite. Danko is a cold, hard-as-nails police with a determination to catch the crook, also sarcastic but in a colder, brooding way seemingly shocked by the (by Soviet standards) decadence of the USA (one memorable scene features Danko turning on the TV in his hotel room only to be greeted by a porn movie. Stunned, he mutters: "Capitalism".)
I have mixed feelings for this movie. On one hand its a decent fun thriller and a veritable time-capsule. When it was made Perestroika was in full effect and thawing of US-Soviet relations, also. The movie ends on a sentimental note with Danko proclaiming that they are policemen not politicians and that it is okay to like each other. Belushi also evolves during the movie, from a man very suspicious of Danko to a more understanding person even calling Lawrence Fishburnes major Russophobic character out in a scene. On the other hand why put Arnold in this movie? It might be an underestimation of his talent but Arnold should either kill every Son-of-a-bitch in sight or make fun of himself for doing it. There ain't nothing wrong with more restrained cop movies but don't put Arnold in them in that case.
Keeping Mum (2005)
Weak story, and Rowan is to underused.
OK i admit it maybe i should have watched this movie with an open mind and not only care about Rowan, but the actual story sucked to. It had the potential of a good, grim English comedy filled with black humor but it was so damn SLOW! And the non-existent "Jokes" were so dull i couldn't believe it. Here we have Rowan Atkinson one of the worlds greatest comedians, a complete master of both and physical comedy and cynical wisecracking playing a dull pastor who's only really funny moment is reciting a Christian joke the script-writer(s) probably just read in a newspaper. It was like one long monotonous joke were the narrator constantly loses his thread of thought only to present the audience with and incredibly weak "punchline" in the end (HAHAHA They killed the pond-inspectors get it?! They just went along with murder HAHAHA!)
Watch Rat Race if you want a funny Rowan in the 21'st century and avoid this.
Doug (1991)
Horrible show
This was an abysmal show. In short it was about this kid called Doug who guilt-tripped a lot. Seriously he could feel guilty over killing a fly then feeling guilty over feeling guilty for killing the fly and so forth. The animation was grating and unpleasant and the jokes cheap.
It aired here in Sweden as a part of the "Disney time" show and i remember liking it some what but then i turned 13.
I never got why some of the characters were green and purple too. What was up with that?
Truly a horrible show. Appareantly it spawned a movie which i've never seen but i don't have any great expectations for that one either.
Death Academy (2005)
Good for a laugh...
I happen to be from the same town as the director and this was shot in my school (featuring several of my teachers and friends) but don't think that i will spare it just because of that. This is a nefariously bad movie. The acting is so stiff that it seems like the actors realized what they were doing halfway through and wanted out but they couldn't. Of course i realize that this isn't bona fide actors but still. I wouldn't knock this totally though. The effects are great (particullary the bit with the fire extinguisher) and the quality is crisp but in the end i just couldn't picture this as anything more than a goof.
By the way the actor that played the janitor (Jan Lundmark) died last year and was a good friend of mine. Rest in peace Jan!