So my plans were to follow up The Phantom Carriage with something more contemporary and exciting, like 2012’s Call Girl or Eat Sleep Die, or perhaps Ruben Östlund’s Palme d’Or-winner The Square. But then we lost yet another giant figure of Swedish theatre and film that I felt compelled to write something in her memory.Continue reading “Show Me Cinema #20: The Seventh Seal”
Author Archives: davidalkhed
The Prestige (2006) – A Cinematic Magic Trick
Every magic trick has three parts, says Michael Caine to the audience in the first few minutes of The Prestige. They are The Pledge, The Turn and the titular Prestige. With The Pledge, the magician introduces a regular object like say a dove. In The Turn, he does something truly extraordinary by making it disappearContinue reading “The Prestige (2006) – A Cinematic Magic Trick”
Another Round (2020) – A Second Go at Life
Here in Scandinavia there is a great deal of alcohol consumption amongst teenagers and youths. And in Denmark in particular, my neighboring country, the youngsters drink the most amount of alcohol in all of Europe, most likely due to the drinking age only being 16. In Sweden it’s as high as 18 to drink butContinue reading “Another Round (2020) – A Second Go at Life”
Show Me Cinema #19: The Phantom Carriage
One of the things about silent cinema is that it is in many ways an international language of visual images. And even though you still have the issue of intertitles dispersed throughout the film (unless you’re Buster Keaton or F.W. Murnau), the silent medium was an almost ideal place for singularly visual storytelling. And whenContinue reading “Show Me Cinema #19: The Phantom Carriage”
Show Me Cinema #18: The Sacrifice
“This film is dedicated to my son Andriosha – with hope and confidence. Andrei Tarkovskij” Those are the words that end Andrei Tarkovsky’s The Sacrifice. Although a film dealing primarily with an impending apocalypse, which is generally associated with fear and death, Tarkovsky finds reasons for hope and for celebrating life and love. It becomesContinue reading “Show Me Cinema #18: The Sacrifice”
Show Me Cinema #17: The Man from Majorca
Dedicated to Sven Wollter (1934-2020) My very first column for the site was for Bo Widerberg’s 1976 cop thriller Man on the Roof. Besides from being a masterpiece of the genre and Swedish cinema in general, it was also one of the most commercially successful films made by the film company SF (Svensk Filmindustri i.e.Continue reading “Show Me Cinema #17: The Man from Majorca”
Show Me Cinema #16: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
It feels weird to review an American movie for a column series that is meant to be reserved for Swedish cinema, but this is a rare occasion. Besides a few unofficial remakes of a number of Bergman’s films I can’t think of any other direct Hollywood remakes of any Swedish films. And to make itContinue reading “Show Me Cinema #16: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)”
Show Me Cinema #15: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009)
If you’re Swedish you definitely know who Lisbeth Salander is and if you haven’t read them you have definitely heard of the Millenium Trilogy. Written by journalist-author Stieg Larsson and published posthumously, the trilogy of books have sold over 80 million copies worldwide and made Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist household names. The books becameContinue reading “Show Me Cinema #15: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009)”
Show Me Cinema #14: Hour of the Wolf
“The hour between night and dawn … when most people die, sleep is deepest, nightmares are most real. It is the hour when the sleepless are haunted by their worst anguish, when ghosts and demons are most powerful. The hour of the wolf is also the hour when most babies are born.” Considering the timeContinue reading “Show Me Cinema #14: Hour of the Wolf”
Show Me Cinema #13: The Girls
As established in my review for her directorial debut Loving Couples from back in April, Mai Zetterling was not afraid to shake things up or upset the establishment and desired to make films that directly dealt with feminism, sexuality and the patriarchy. But this came with a price. Despite the controversy and supposed international successContinue reading “Show Me Cinema #13: The Girls”
