The Swedish Experience

Various directors

IFC Center

323 Avenue of the Americas

212 924-6789

 

Review by Gila Babich

 

The IFC Center ventures into the rarely explored cinematic territory of Swedish short film in “The Swedish Experience.” Through November 13, audiences attending films at the IFC will see a Swedish short as a preamble to their feature of choice. On October 7, five of these innovative and incisive works were the main event, and moviegoers with short attention spans were finally satisfied.

 

The crowning glory of this collection was Thomas Alfredson’s “Screwed in Tallinn,” a 1999 60-minute film that has become a television classic in Sweden. The hilarious mockumentary follows a few male residents of a small Swedish town as they embark on an organized theme trip to Tallinn, Estonia. Some are young, some are old, some try to justify themselves to the camera, some make fun of themselves, but the truth remains: They are so desperate for love and sex that they are willing to board what one of them calls a “Sperm Bus,” that would take them to meet (and possibly screw or marry) a load of lonely Estonian women. The brilliance of this film is in the details; the characters are quite realistic and human, but it’s hard not to find their desperation comical.

 

Another good one was the controversial “To Think Things You Don’t Want to,” by Joanna Rytel, which isn’t so much a film as we know it but a narrated compilation of photographs, video footage and text about an interracial relationship. The narrator, Astrid, reads from her diary thoughts one can never say out loud, about her Muslim Somali boyfriend, Hatem: she likes to shock everyone with her relationship (“Somalia is a dirty word in Swedish”), she hates to see him wear white clothes (it’s “too black”), she does not want to be seen with him in public (“Everyone thinks he has AIDS”).  This is a quirky, unapologetic account of Astrid addiction to Hatem’s skin color, which brings forth a type of racism that is deep-rooted in the subconscious of some Western cultures but is never discussed so openly in a world aspiring to be politically correct. 

 

Also screened was Ruben Ostlund’s simple yet compelling “Autobiographical Scene Number 6882,” which focuses on a group of friends on Midsummer’s Eve. Artfully shot – first shaky and grainy, then just quietly observant – it follows the characters as they encourage a friend to jump off of a 30-meter bridge into water. A passerby warns them off, telling of death, which makes them argue about fear. Ostlund is able to capture some real emotions in a piece that has a clear beginning, turning points and end.

 

Other works included Jen Jonsson’s “Brother of Mine,” which seemed more like a scene from a movie rather than a fully-developed piece. Two teenage brothers take a fight a step above common brotherly banter, as the older kid accuses his brother of inappropriate intercourse with their mother, and threatens him with a cigarette lighter. The film is well done stylistically, but it would fare better as part of a feature film.