REinvent International Sales has inked a raft of deals across its slate of high-concept series, including “Transport” (pictured) and “Enemy of the People,” rolling off of MipTV.
The company has sold both “Transport,” which is penned by Auli Mantila (“Silver Stars”), and the Icelandic comedy series “Ordinary People” to AMC Networks Southern Europe for Spain and Portugal.
“Transport” is an eight-part TV show following a young journalist investigating a chip found in baby food. She crosses paths with an insurance investigator and a bank manager who are both connected to the case. The series stars Emmi Parviainen (“Shadow Lines”), Maria Heiskanen (“Everlasting Moments”), Pirkko Hämäläinen (“Devil’s Bride”) and Geert van Rampelberg (“De Infiltrant”). Miia Haavisto (“Tom of Finland”) and Tia Talli (“Nurses”) at Tekele are producing “Transport.”
“Ordinary People,” which is produced by Glassriver, follows the ups and downs of a friendship between two young women entering adulthood and...
The company has sold both “Transport,” which is penned by Auli Mantila (“Silver Stars”), and the Icelandic comedy series “Ordinary People” to AMC Networks Southern Europe for Spain and Portugal.
“Transport” is an eight-part TV show following a young journalist investigating a chip found in baby food. She crosses paths with an insurance investigator and a bank manager who are both connected to the case. The series stars Emmi Parviainen (“Shadow Lines”), Maria Heiskanen (“Everlasting Moments”), Pirkko Hämäläinen (“Devil’s Bride”) and Geert van Rampelberg (“De Infiltrant”). Miia Haavisto (“Tom of Finland”) and Tia Talli (“Nurses”) at Tekele are producing “Transport.”
“Ordinary People,” which is produced by Glassriver, follows the ups and downs of a friendship between two young women entering adulthood and...
- 4/6/2022
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
“You’re a horse person?” a Belgian stable owner asks Johanna, a young Finnish journalist delving into the discovery of a microchip in a baby’s meat patty at a Helsinki daycare center. Only creator-director Auli Mantila’s own horse affiliations as a qualified farrier may explain in part one of the most singular of entries at this year’s Nordisk Film & TV Fond Prize: “Transport.”
This is Scandinavian crime drama, but “ordi-noir,” Mantila told the Nordisk Film & TV Fond newsletter, in that it “happens in broad daylight, involves people with no special talent or trauma, and takes place in locations anyone could just walk in.”
It also addresses a massive but little explored subject, turning on pan-European food fraud which embroils three women: Marianne, a by-the-book bank loans exec forced to money launder earnings of a sinister food import company; an insurance investigator checking the disappearance of a...
This is Scandinavian crime drama, but “ordi-noir,” Mantila told the Nordisk Film & TV Fond newsletter, in that it “happens in broad daylight, involves people with no special talent or trauma, and takes place in locations anyone could just walk in.”
It also addresses a massive but little explored subject, turning on pan-European food fraud which embroils three women: Marianne, a by-the-book bank loans exec forced to money launder earnings of a sinister food import company; an insurance investigator checking the disappearance of a...
- 1/31/2022
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
The Berlin Festival’s Finnish Shooting Star 2015 Emmi Parviainen (“Shadow Lines”), seasoned actor Maria Heiskanen (“Everlasting Moments”), Pirkko Hämäläinen (“Devil’s Bride”) and Belgian actor Geert van Rampelberg (“De Infiltrant”) are headlining the eight-part TV show “Transport.” Prix Europa winner Auli Mantila will serve as its showrunner.
Lensing the show is veteran DoP J-p Passi, multi-awarded for the film “The Happiest Day in the Life of Olly Mäki” and second unit DoP on “Chernobyl.”
Veteran producer Miia Haavisto (“Tom of Finland”) and Tia Talli (“Nurses”) of Tekele are producing for Finnish pubcaster Yle. Belgium’s Philippe de Schepper (“Black-Out”) and Jonnydepony’S Helen Perquy, an executive producer on “Tabula Rasa,” are co-producing. Nordic global distributor REinvent Studios picked up the show in February.
Producer Haavisto said “Transport” stands out as a crime drama set in the food trade. “It’s the tale of ordinary people under immense pressure, all of...
Lensing the show is veteran DoP J-p Passi, multi-awarded for the film “The Happiest Day in the Life of Olly Mäki” and second unit DoP on “Chernobyl.”
Veteran producer Miia Haavisto (“Tom of Finland”) and Tia Talli (“Nurses”) of Tekele are producing for Finnish pubcaster Yle. Belgium’s Philippe de Schepper (“Black-Out”) and Jonnydepony’S Helen Perquy, an executive producer on “Tabula Rasa,” are co-producing. Nordic global distributor REinvent Studios picked up the show in February.
Producer Haavisto said “Transport” stands out as a crime drama set in the food trade. “It’s the tale of ordinary people under immense pressure, all of...
- 10/10/2020
- by Annika Pham
- Variety Film + TV
The question of legacy drives “Ravens,” a coming of age drama gearing up to make its World Premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. And today we have an exclusive clip from the movie that will be screening as part of the festival’s Discovery slate of programming.
Written and directed by Jens Assur, and starring Reine Brynolfsson, Maria Heiskanen and Jacob Nordström, the takes viewers to 1970s Sweden where an aging farmer hopes his son will take over the family trade, while the young man has dreams of his own.
Continue reading Tiff Exclusive ‘Ravens’ Clip: An Invisible Force Beckons at The Playlist.
Written and directed by Jens Assur, and starring Reine Brynolfsson, Maria Heiskanen and Jacob Nordström, the takes viewers to 1970s Sweden where an aging farmer hopes his son will take over the family trade, while the young man has dreams of his own.
Continue reading Tiff Exclusive ‘Ravens’ Clip: An Invisible Force Beckons at The Playlist.
- 8/30/2017
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
Scenes From a Marriage: Troell’s Latest an Engrossing Character Study
Swedish auteur Jan Troell, at 81, is thankfully still making films, and his latest, The Last Sentence, is a period piece centered on a somewhat obscure historical figure, more in the vein of Hamsun (1996) than the immigrant or social change narratives that Troell is perhaps most famed for, such as his last effort, a 2008 masterpiece, Everlasting Moments. Beginning his directorial career in the mid 60’s, Troell was not only a contemporary of Ingmar Bergman but has often showcased many of Bergman’s troupe, like Max Von Sydow and Liv Ullman (Sydow was purportedly first choice for this latest as well). Here, he assembles a distinct cast and digital black and white cinematography to offset this from his larger body of work, and the pay off his decidedly worthwhile.
Featuring the announcement of Hitler as Germany’s Chancellor in 1932 via newsreel,...
Swedish auteur Jan Troell, at 81, is thankfully still making films, and his latest, The Last Sentence, is a period piece centered on a somewhat obscure historical figure, more in the vein of Hamsun (1996) than the immigrant or social change narratives that Troell is perhaps most famed for, such as his last effort, a 2008 masterpiece, Everlasting Moments. Beginning his directorial career in the mid 60’s, Troell was not only a contemporary of Ingmar Bergman but has often showcased many of Bergman’s troupe, like Max Von Sydow and Liv Ullman (Sydow was purportedly first choice for this latest as well). Here, he assembles a distinct cast and digital black and white cinematography to offset this from his larger body of work, and the pay off his decidedly worthwhile.
Featuring the announcement of Hitler as Germany’s Chancellor in 1932 via newsreel,...
- 6/22/2014
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Weirdness In the Woods: Johnsen’s Latest an Intriguing, Complicated Love Triangle
Norwegian filmmaker Sara Johnsen’s latest film, All That Matters Is Past is a curiously maddening film about star crossed lovers mixed with a light incestuous streak. While this is mostly an engaging scenario, the serpentine plotting often makes it feel as if it was necessary to fill the slim central conflict with a lot of extra flourishes. That said, Johnsen’s film is more often than not an exquisite examination of an earthy, natural world, one dictated by attraction and decomposition.
Mysteriously, a pair of ragtag forest dwellers in some remote Norwegian woodland quickly construct a trap for something or someone. The man, William (Kristoffer Joner) climbs a tree while his female partner, Janne (Maria Bonnevie) throws him a large rock. Quickly, we learn they mean to use this as a weapon to maim or kill a...
Norwegian filmmaker Sara Johnsen’s latest film, All That Matters Is Past is a curiously maddening film about star crossed lovers mixed with a light incestuous streak. While this is mostly an engaging scenario, the serpentine plotting often makes it feel as if it was necessary to fill the slim central conflict with a lot of extra flourishes. That said, Johnsen’s film is more often than not an exquisite examination of an earthy, natural world, one dictated by attraction and decomposition.
Mysteriously, a pair of ragtag forest dwellers in some remote Norwegian woodland quickly construct a trap for something or someone. The man, William (Kristoffer Joner) climbs a tree while his female partner, Janne (Maria Bonnevie) throws him a large rock. Quickly, we learn they mean to use this as a weapon to maim or kill a...
- 9/14/2012
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Courtesy of Icon Films, you could get a pass for the Golden Globe-nominated Swedish film Everlasting Moments.
Based on a true story, it follows the story of Maria (Maria Heiskanen), who is married to an alcoholic and womanizing dockworker (Mikael Persbrandt). Her husband leaves the worries of family responsibilities entirely to Maria. Her situation is desperate until she meets a camera shop owner (Jesper Christensen) who encourages her to start taking and developing photographs. She soon begins to see the world in new ways that threaten her already perilous situation.
To win, email miguel@focalattractions.com.au and tell us, what is the best photo you’ve ever taken?...
Based on a true story, it follows the story of Maria (Maria Heiskanen), who is married to an alcoholic and womanizing dockworker (Mikael Persbrandt). Her husband leaves the worries of family responsibilities entirely to Maria. Her situation is desperate until she meets a camera shop owner (Jesper Christensen) who encourages her to start taking and developing photographs. She soon begins to see the world in new ways that threaten her already perilous situation.
To win, email miguel@focalattractions.com.au and tell us, what is the best photo you’ve ever taken?...
- 8/10/2010
- by Miguel Gonzalez
- Encore Magazine
Many people talk about the importance of day and date delivery for home media, and the eventual shift towards that model. Over the past few months, we’ve seen several Criterion Collection films available on the day of their DVD/Blu-ray releases, including Paris Texas, Rome Open City, Che, and Summer Hours.
This past Friday, Netflix quietly added three more Criterion Collection films to their Watch Instantly selection, including another film that hasn’t even been released on DVD / Blu-ray yet: Abdellatif Kechiche’s The Secret of the Grain. This is set to be released on DVD and Blu-ray on July 27th, so get a sneak peak now!
Another recent Criterion / IFC release was also made available last week: Jan Troell‘s Everlasting Moments, which just received a tremendous DVD and Blu-ray debut, with cover and interior art by the graphic designer Sam’s Myth.
Finally, available now to stream...
This past Friday, Netflix quietly added three more Criterion Collection films to their Watch Instantly selection, including another film that hasn’t even been released on DVD / Blu-ray yet: Abdellatif Kechiche’s The Secret of the Grain. This is set to be released on DVD and Blu-ray on July 27th, so get a sneak peak now!
Another recent Criterion / IFC release was also made available last week: Jan Troell‘s Everlasting Moments, which just received a tremendous DVD and Blu-ray debut, with cover and interior art by the graphic designer Sam’s Myth.
Finally, available now to stream...
- 7/12/2010
- by Ryan Gallagher
- CriterionCast
Chicago – Jan Troell’s “Everlasting Moments” is a beautiful film; a perfect fit for Criterion’s Blu-ray line in that it’s the kind of work that both could easily slip under the radar of movie history and not be granted the HD treatment that it deserves. There’s been some controversy over Criterion’s arrangement with IFC Films that has allowed some recent questionable inductions into the most esteemed collection in film preservation but I’m here to defend the inclusion of “Everlasting Moments.”
Blu-Ray Rating: 4.5/5.0
For me, the Criterion Collection has long been an education in not just the best films from around the world but some of the most underrated. In many cases, Criterion pulled films that time had forgotten into a new spotlight and allowed for a diverse understanding of the film canon. With the state of the arthouse cinema today, great films are being ignored...
Blu-Ray Rating: 4.5/5.0
For me, the Criterion Collection has long been an education in not just the best films from around the world but some of the most underrated. In many cases, Criterion pulled films that time had forgotten into a new spotlight and allowed for a diverse understanding of the film canon. With the state of the arthouse cinema today, great films are being ignored...
- 7/5/2010
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
DVD Playhouse—June 2010
By
Allen Gardner
The White Ribbon (Sony) On the eve of Ww I, a small village in Germany is struck by a series of tragic, seemingly unconnected events until the townspeople, and the audience, start to connect the dots. Shot in stark, beautiful black & white, director Michael Haneke has fashioned a haunting metaphorical drama that is as coldly chilling as anything made by Ingmar Bergman, and darkly unsettling as anything from the canon of David Lynch. A rich, tough, brilliant cinematic experience you’re not likely to forget. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bd bonuses: Interviews with cast and crew; featurettes. Widescreen Dolby and DTS 5.1 surround.
Alice In Wonderland (Disney) Tim Burton’s take on the Lewis Carroll classic finds young Alice (Mia Wasikowska), a 19th century girl who finds herself in an unhappy engagement to a boorish suitor, tumbling down the rabbit hole into Wonderland, where she encounters magical cakes,...
By
Allen Gardner
The White Ribbon (Sony) On the eve of Ww I, a small village in Germany is struck by a series of tragic, seemingly unconnected events until the townspeople, and the audience, start to connect the dots. Shot in stark, beautiful black & white, director Michael Haneke has fashioned a haunting metaphorical drama that is as coldly chilling as anything made by Ingmar Bergman, and darkly unsettling as anything from the canon of David Lynch. A rich, tough, brilliant cinematic experience you’re not likely to forget. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bd bonuses: Interviews with cast and crew; featurettes. Widescreen Dolby and DTS 5.1 surround.
Alice In Wonderland (Disney) Tim Burton’s take on the Lewis Carroll classic finds young Alice (Mia Wasikowska), a 19th century girl who finds herself in an unhappy engagement to a boorish suitor, tumbling down the rabbit hole into Wonderland, where she encounters magical cakes,...
- 6/23/2010
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
Since Moses brought the tablets down from the mountain, lists have come in tens, not that we couldn't have done with several more commandments. Who says a year has Ten Best Films, anyway? Nobody but readers, editors, and most other movie critics. There was hell to pay last year when I published my list of Twenty Best. You'd have thought I belched at a funeral. So this year I have devoutly limited myself to exactly ten films.
On each of two lists.
The lists are divided into Mainstream Films and Independent Films. This neatly sidesteps two frequent complaints: (1) "You name all those little films most people have never heard of," and (2) "You pick all blockbusters and ignore the indie pictures." Which is is my official Top Ten? They both are equal, and every film here is entitled to name itself "One of the Year's 10 Best!"
Alphabetically:
¶ The Top 10 Mainstream Films
Bad Lieutenant.
On each of two lists.
The lists are divided into Mainstream Films and Independent Films. This neatly sidesteps two frequent complaints: (1) "You name all those little films most people have never heard of," and (2) "You pick all blockbusters and ignore the indie pictures." Which is is my official Top Ten? They both are equal, and every film here is entitled to name itself "One of the Year's 10 Best!"
Alphabetically:
¶ The Top 10 Mainstream Films
Bad Lieutenant.
- 12/30/2009
- by Roger Ebert
- blogs.suntimes.com/ebert
Maria Heiskanen in Everlasting Moments European Film Awards 2009 – Nominations: Part I Among the eligible films and performers that failed to nab a mention were Giovanna Mezzogiorno for Vincere, Audrey Tautou for Coco Before Chanel, Maren Ade’s Everyone Else, Ulrich Tukur for The White Ribbon, Martina Gedeck for The Baader Meinhof Complex, and Michael Fassbender for Fish Tank. Also, Christian Petzold’s Jerichow, Nina Hoss for Jerichow, Jan Troell’s Everlasting Moments, Maria Heiskanen for Everlasting Moments, Corneliu Porumboiu’s Police, Adjective, Andrzej Wajda’s Sweet Rush, and Philippe Lioret’s Welcome. Now, the curious thing about the European Film Awards is that the awards’ timing and eligibility rules (some of which have varied throughout the years) make many of the nominations seem like old news. Indeed, [...]...
- 11/8/2009
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Quickcard Review
Everlasting Moments
Directed by: Jan Troell
Cast: Maria Heiskanen, Mikael Persbrandt, Jesper Christensen
Running Time: 2 hrs 10 mins
Rating: Unrated
Release Date: May 1, 2009
Plot: A housewife in early 20th century Sweden endures a difficult marriage. She only finds peace through photography and her friendship with a local photographer.
Who’s It For? Fans of family melodramas, period dramas and foreign films. If you like all three, you’re all set.
Expectations: Didn’t know anything about this before I saw it.
Overall
Maria Larsson (Heiskanen) is married to Sigfrid, a coarse, former soldier prone to drink. When he goes on a bender, he gets violent. She refuses to leave him, despite her misery, instead turing to photography for solace. The title refers to her photos though they’re more a subplot than anything else. That’s pretty much it. The film starts off promisingly, a slice of life in Sweden 100 years ago.
Everlasting Moments
Directed by: Jan Troell
Cast: Maria Heiskanen, Mikael Persbrandt, Jesper Christensen
Running Time: 2 hrs 10 mins
Rating: Unrated
Release Date: May 1, 2009
Plot: A housewife in early 20th century Sweden endures a difficult marriage. She only finds peace through photography and her friendship with a local photographer.
Who’s It For? Fans of family melodramas, period dramas and foreign films. If you like all three, you’re all set.
Expectations: Didn’t know anything about this before I saw it.
Overall
Maria Larsson (Heiskanen) is married to Sigfrid, a coarse, former soldier prone to drink. When he goes on a bender, he gets violent. She refuses to leave him, despite her misery, instead turing to photography for solace. The title refers to her photos though they’re more a subplot than anything else. That’s pretty much it. The film starts off promisingly, a slice of life in Sweden 100 years ago.
- 5/7/2009
- by Megan Lehar
- The Scorecard Review
Rating: 4.5/5.0 Chicago – Jan Troell’s epic “Everlasting Moments,” a Golden Globe-nominee for Best Foreign Language Film of 2008 and Sweden’s entry in the same category for the Oscars (notoriously making “Let the Right One In” ineligible because of the stupid “one country, one movie” rule), is a haunting, beautiful movie about small, emotional movements set against a backdrop of national change.
The backdrop starts in 1907 Sweden, as political and social revolution fills the air. Maria Larsson (Maria Heiskanen) and Sigge Larsson (Mikael Persbrandt) are what could politely be called a troubled couple. Sigge can be charming and supportive when he’s sober, but that’s rare. He cheats regularly and even abuses his family but he also provides for his children in rough times.
Read Brian Tallerico’s full review of “Everlasting Moments” in our reviews section. One of those children is Maja (Callin Ohrvall), who beautifully narrates “Everlasting Moments,...
The backdrop starts in 1907 Sweden, as political and social revolution fills the air. Maria Larsson (Maria Heiskanen) and Sigge Larsson (Mikael Persbrandt) are what could politely be called a troubled couple. Sigge can be charming and supportive when he’s sober, but that’s rare. He cheats regularly and even abuses his family but he also provides for his children in rough times.
Read Brian Tallerico’s full review of “Everlasting Moments” in our reviews section. One of those children is Maja (Callin Ohrvall), who beautifully narrates “Everlasting Moments,...
- 3/13/2009
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
When Sydney Pollack was making "Out of Africa" in 1985, he considered the problem of how to film Meryl Streep and Robert Redford in love scenes that were not explicit, yet were erotic. "When I have Streep and Redford together," he told me, "I don't want to see them strip naked and writhe around in bed together. The challenge was to find love scenes that would have emotion and passion and yet not violate a certain place where we want to see them. There are two really sensual love scenes. One of them is the undressing scene. I always like scenes like that. I think they're sexy. I tried to make a sort of passionate dance out of them undressing each other. The second scene consists of three absolutely terrific lines I took out of a screenplay that was written in 1973 when Nicholas Roeg was going to direct this project. It's only three lines,...
- 3/13/2009
- by Roger Ebert
- blogs.suntimes.com/ebert
Release Date: March 6 (limited)
Director: Jan Troell
Writer: Niklas Rådström
Cinematographers: Mischa Gavrjusjov, Jan Troell
Starring: Maria Heiskanen, Mikael Persbrandt, Jesper Christensen
Studio/Run Time: IFC Films, 131 mins.
Leisurely realism elevates period tale of a woman who lives through pictures
Every photograph is a miracle for the durable matriarch of Everlasting Moments, and in the hands of enduring Swedish great Jan Troell, it’s hard to disagree. First set in 1907, the movie loosely recounts the fact-based story of Maria Larsson (Maria Heiskanen), a lower-class Swede with a lifelong affinity for photography. The movie extends into World War I and beyond, but it's always punctuated by Maria’s fleeting moments with her camera, which adopt a lightly symbolic weight as the years pass.
Director: Jan Troell
Writer: Niklas Rådström
Cinematographers: Mischa Gavrjusjov, Jan Troell
Starring: Maria Heiskanen, Mikael Persbrandt, Jesper Christensen
Studio/Run Time: IFC Films, 131 mins.
Leisurely realism elevates period tale of a woman who lives through pictures
Every photograph is a miracle for the durable matriarch of Everlasting Moments, and in the hands of enduring Swedish great Jan Troell, it’s hard to disagree. First set in 1907, the movie loosely recounts the fact-based story of Maria Larsson (Maria Heiskanen), a lower-class Swede with a lifelong affinity for photography. The movie extends into World War I and beyond, but it's always punctuated by Maria’s fleeting moments with her camera, which adopt a lightly symbolic weight as the years pass.
- 3/10/2009
- Pastemagazine.com
By Kim Voynar (Original publication date: 9/3/2008 -- Telluride Film Festival)
For the cinephile, discovering a new film by famed Swedish director Jan Troell (one of this year's Telluride tributees) is a lot like eating a perfectly made truffle after a lifetime of mass-produced candy bars. His latest effort, Everlasting Moments, was like that for me; it's that rare cinematic experience that you settle back, bite into, and then savor as the subtle richness of the film cleanses the palate and fills the soul.
Based on the real-life story of Troell's wife's grandmother, the film takes us through the life of Maria Larsson (Maria Heiskanen, in a remarkable performance), a belabored mother of a large brood in the early days of the 20th century who finds renewed passion and intellectual independence through a Contessa camera she wins in a lottery. The camera sits for many years unused until one day, Maria...
For the cinephile, discovering a new film by famed Swedish director Jan Troell (one of this year's Telluride tributees) is a lot like eating a perfectly made truffle after a lifetime of mass-produced candy bars. His latest effort, Everlasting Moments, was like that for me; it's that rare cinematic experience that you settle back, bite into, and then savor as the subtle richness of the film cleanses the palate and fills the soul.
Based on the real-life story of Troell's wife's grandmother, the film takes us through the life of Maria Larsson (Maria Heiskanen, in a remarkable performance), a belabored mother of a large brood in the early days of the 20th century who finds renewed passion and intellectual independence through a Contessa camera she wins in a lottery. The camera sits for many years unused until one day, Maria...
- 3/7/2009
- by Cinematical staff
- Cinematical
Jan Troell has been making movies in Sweden (with a brief stint in the United States) since 1962, often doing his own writing and lensing. Truly a Renaissance man.
He's even been mentioned in the same breath as the great Bergman. Still, most moviegoers would look perplexed if asked about Troell.
His "Everlasting Moments," opening today, can serve as an introduction to the director.
It's the early 20th century, and Maria (Maria Heiskanen) is struggling to survive as the mother of seven children and the wife of a drunken, abusive dockworker (Mikael Persbrandt).
Eventually,...
He's even been mentioned in the same breath as the great Bergman. Still, most moviegoers would look perplexed if asked about Troell.
His "Everlasting Moments," opening today, can serve as an introduction to the director.
It's the early 20th century, and Maria (Maria Heiskanen) is struggling to survive as the mother of seven children and the wife of a drunken, abusive dockworker (Mikael Persbrandt).
Eventually,...
- 3/6/2009
- NYPost.com
Jan Troell’s Swedish period piece Everlasting Moments often feels like a moving version of a sepia-toned old photograph. The palette is muted and leans heavily on browns and tans; a prestige-pic tone of solemn, searching melancholy makes every moment feel like the kind of stiff and frowning pose common to old daguerreotypes. Only the attempts to find the joy as well as the sorrow of an average life keep the story from pure miserablism, and even then, the film sometimes reads like a Lifetime kitchen-sink drama, ported across the sea and a century back in time. Maria Heiskanen stars ...
- 3/5/2009
- avclub.com
Some homegrown interloping mixes with a strong international showing this week to give an overall balance to what's playing at your local multiplex. Comic book fans can salivate over "Watchmen," arthouse fans can enjoy a Louis Garrel double bill, and a Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse-inspired serial killer movie bridges the gap.
Download this in audio form (MP3: 10:31 minutes, 14.5 Mb)
"12"
A best foreign language Oscar nominee from 2008, Russian director Nikita Mikhalkov's interpretation of the Reginald Rose's 1954 play "Twelve Angry Men" puts a contemporary political spin on this classic tale of passion and prejudice. Tasked with discerning the guilt of a young Chechen boy accused of brutally murdering his military officer father, Sergei Makovetsky plays the lone voice of dissent voting for acquittal. As the audience witnesses the boy's unfortunate childhood in flashbacks, Makovetsky's mysterious juror preaches rationality and reason as he attempts to convince a room...
Download this in audio form (MP3: 10:31 minutes, 14.5 Mb)
"12"
A best foreign language Oscar nominee from 2008, Russian director Nikita Mikhalkov's interpretation of the Reginald Rose's 1954 play "Twelve Angry Men" puts a contemporary political spin on this classic tale of passion and prejudice. Tasked with discerning the guilt of a young Chechen boy accused of brutally murdering his military officer father, Sergei Makovetsky plays the lone voice of dissent voting for acquittal. As the audience witnesses the boy's unfortunate childhood in flashbacks, Makovetsky's mysterious juror preaches rationality and reason as he attempts to convince a room...
- 3/2/2009
- by Neil Pedley
- ifc.com
Movie Jungle has images in from IFC Films' "Everlasting Moments" starring Maria Heiskanen, Hans Alfredson, Jesper Christensen, Emil Jensen, Callin Öhrvall and Mikael Persbrandt. Five-time Academy Award® nominee Jan Troell ("Visions of Europe," "Frozen Dream") helms the drama and writes the story alongside Agneta Ulfsäter-Troell. Niklas Rådström adapts the screenplay. Sweden, early 1900s. In a time of social change and unrest, war and poverty, a young working class woman, Maria, wins a camera in a lottery. The decision to keep it alters her whole life. The camera grants Maria new eyes with which to see the world, and brings the charming photographer "Piff Paff Puff" into her life. Trouble ensues when Maria's alcoholic, womanizing husband, feels threatened by the young man and his wife's newfound outlook on life. See the gallery now and see the trailer here. ...
- 2/17/2009
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Movie Jungle has images in from IFC Films' "Everlasting Moments" starring Maria Heiskanen, Hans Alfredson, Jesper Christensen, Emil Jensen, Callin Öhrvall and Mikael Persbrandt. Five-time Academy Award® nominee Jan Troell ("Visions of Europe," "Frozen Dream") helms the drama and writes the story alongside Agneta Ulfsäter-Troell. Niklas Rådström adapts the screenplay. Sweden, early 1900s. In a time of social change and unrest, war and poverty, a young working class woman, Maria, wins a camera in a lottery.
- 2/17/2009
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Movie Jungle has images in from IFC Films' "Everlasting Moments" starring Maria Heiskanen, Hans Alfredson, Jesper Christensen, Emil Jensen, Callin Öhrvall and Mikael Persbrandt. Five-time Academy Award® nominee Jan Troell ("Visions of Europe," "Frozen Dream") helms the drama and writes the story alongside Agneta Ulfsäter-Troell. Niklas Rådström adapts the screenplay. Sweden, early 1900s. In a time of social change and unrest, war and poverty, a young working class woman, Maria, wins a camera in a lottery.
- 2/17/2009
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Berlin -- “Everlasting Moments,” Jan Troell’s period piece about social change in Sweden in the early 1900s, has swept the Guldbagge Awards, Sweden’s top film honors, taking five statuettes, including best film, best actor (Mikael Persbrandt) and best actress (Maria Heiskanen).
Troell’s film has also made the nomination short list for this year’s Foreign Language Oscars and garnered a Golden Globe nomination as Best Foreign Language Film.
To top it all off, “Everlasting Moments” won the Goteborg Film Prize, an audience award presented ahead of Sweden’s top international film festival, which kicks off Jan.23.
The Guldbagge best director nod went to Troell compatriot Tomas Alfredson for his vampire thriller “Let The Right One In,” which also picked up best screenplay for writer John Ajvide Lindqvist and best cinematography for Hoyte van Hoytema.
The Guldbagge for best documentary went to Beatrice Maggie Andersson’s “Maggie in Wonderland” about a Kenyan immigrant living in Sweden.
Troell’s film has also made the nomination short list for this year’s Foreign Language Oscars and garnered a Golden Globe nomination as Best Foreign Language Film.
To top it all off, “Everlasting Moments” won the Goteborg Film Prize, an audience award presented ahead of Sweden’s top international film festival, which kicks off Jan.23.
The Guldbagge best director nod went to Troell compatriot Tomas Alfredson for his vampire thriller “Let The Right One In,” which also picked up best screenplay for writer John Ajvide Lindqvist and best cinematography for Hoyte van Hoytema.
The Guldbagge for best documentary went to Beatrice Maggie Andersson’s “Maggie in Wonderland” about a Kenyan immigrant living in Sweden.
- 1/14/2009
- by By Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Madrid -- Italian-Argentine co-production "Estomago," directed by Marcos Jorge, walked away with the 50,000 euro top prize, the Golden Spike, while Alberto Lecchi's "El Fracaso," took the 25,000 euro Silver Spike as the Valladolid International Film Festival wrapped Sunday.
Maria Heiskanen earned best actress honor for "Maria Larsson's Everlasting Moments," which saw Mischa Gavrjusjov and Jan Troell win best photography.
Joao Miguel shared the best actor award with Unax Ugalde, for their respective roles in and "Estomago" and "Buena Nueva."
Henrik Ruben Genz's "Terribly Happy" won both the best music award and the best script award.
Valladolid ran Oct. 24-Nov. 1 under the guidance of new artistic director Javier Angulo.
Maria Heiskanen earned best actress honor for "Maria Larsson's Everlasting Moments," which saw Mischa Gavrjusjov and Jan Troell win best photography.
Joao Miguel shared the best actor award with Unax Ugalde, for their respective roles in and "Estomago" and "Buena Nueva."
Henrik Ruben Genz's "Terribly Happy" won both the best music award and the best script award.
Valladolid ran Oct. 24-Nov. 1 under the guidance of new artistic director Javier Angulo.
- 11/3/2008
- by By Pamela Rolfe
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Irina Potapenko in Revanche I have been keeping track of all the submissions for Foreign Language Oscar as they have been announced and updating the list in my "The Contenders" section and just recently two heavyweights were thrown into the ring as Germany submitted Uli Edel's controversial terrorist drama Der Baader Meinhof Komplex, a film In Contention's Guy Lodge believes is a shoo-in for a nomination citing a Screen International review saying: Discreet, old fashioned, traditional and altogether admirable, this is Jan Troell in what he does best . Paying minute attention to the smallest details, taking its time but never appearing to drag its feet, immensely sympathetic to its heroes and villains alike, this is an intimate family portrait and at the same time a rich canvas of working class life . This picture has quality stamped all over it, awards are likely to come its way whether for direction,...
- 9/17/2008
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
Put this one down as a trailer that arrived just a touch too late to be included in our TIFF Trailer Park. Jan Troell’s impressive period drama Everlasting Moments took its bow at the just completed Toronto International Film Festival but the trailer didn’t arrive on the scene until just after the festival conclusion. Here’s an excerpt from the festival’s write up:
Maria (Maria Heiskanen) is swept away by the loutish rake Sigfrid (Mikael Persbrandt, who delivers a phenomenal performance), and marries him at a young age. Sigfrid can’t keep a job, but possesses a unique gift for stumbling home roaring drunk at the worst possible moment. Eventually, his rage and frustration manifest themselves on the domestic front. Confronted with a bleak future, Maria strikes up a friendship with Mr. Petersson (Jesper Christensen), the proprietor of the local photography shop. She begins taking her own photographs.
Maria (Maria Heiskanen) is swept away by the loutish rake Sigfrid (Mikael Persbrandt, who delivers a phenomenal performance), and marries him at a young age. Sigfrid can’t keep a job, but possesses a unique gift for stumbling home roaring drunk at the worst possible moment. Eventually, his rage and frustration manifest themselves on the domestic front. Confronted with a bleak future, Maria strikes up a friendship with Mr. Petersson (Jesper Christensen), the proprietor of the local photography shop. She begins taking her own photographs.
- 9/16/2008
- by Todd Brown
- Screen Anarchy
For the cinephile, discovering a new film by famed Swedish director Jan Troell (one of this year's Telluride tributees) is a lot like eating a perfectly made truffle after a lifetime of mass-produced candy bars. His latest effort, Everlasting Moments, was like that for me; it's that rare cinematic experience that you settle back, bite into, and then savor as the subtle richness of the film cleanses the palate and fills the soul.
Based on the real-life story of Troell's wife's grandmother, the film takes us through the life of Maria Larsson (Maria Heiskanen, in a remarkable performance), a belabored mother of a large brood in the early days of the 20th century who finds renewed passion and intellectual independence through a Contessa camera she wins in a lottery. The camera sits for many years unused until one day, Maria takes it into the shop of the local photographer, Sebastien...
Based on the real-life story of Troell's wife's grandmother, the film takes us through the life of Maria Larsson (Maria Heiskanen, in a remarkable performance), a belabored mother of a large brood in the early days of the 20th century who finds renewed passion and intellectual independence through a Contessa camera she wins in a lottery. The camera sits for many years unused until one day, Maria takes it into the shop of the local photographer, Sebastien...
- 9/3/2008
- by Kim Voynar
- Cinematical
Palm Springs International Film Festival
Blind Spot Pictures
PALM SPRINGS -- Prostitution provides a quick fix -- and an emotional undoing -- for an unemployed husband and father in A Man's Job, the Academy Award submission from Finland. With this well-observed second feature, writer-director Aleksi Salmenpera (Producing Adults) intensifies his exploration of intimacy and alienation in contemporary relationships. The drama, which recently screened at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, deserves wider Art House exposure.
Tommi Korpela is perfect as Juha, a strapping factory worker in his 30s who hides his layoff and monthslong job search from his listless wife, Katja (Maria Heiskanen). After the alarm wakes him and he has checked her supply of antidepressants, he heads for a local fast food cafe to brainstorm with Olli (Jani Volanen), a cab driver with an anxious gaze. The rivalrous chemistry between them is one of the film's most fascinating elements, and the two actors are never less than compelling as characters who are both lying to themselves. However medicated she might be, Katja's depression is in a sense the truest response in this sometimes comic scenario of disconnection.
Olli, who pretends not to be drinking anymore but still has trouble with the breathalyzer on his taxi, happens to be the father of Akseli (Konsta Pylkkonen), the boy Juha is raising as his own, along with his and Katja's two younger kids. In short order, he also becomes Juha's driver and pimp. On a handyman gig, a well-to-do woman offers Juha a higher hourly wage than he's ever dreamed of, for work that has nothing to do with the renovation of her house. Rediscovering the confidence his unemployment and troubled home life have drained from him, Juha sees prostitution as a simple solution.
But his encounters (all based on journalistic investigations) are often disquieting: the neediness and pain of neglected older women, the violent rage of an obese client, the mostly chaste curiosity of a 19-year-old girl with Down syndrome. Korpela embodies Juha's deepening unease and the heedlessness with which he's heading for a fall. Olli, meanwhile, awkwardly steps in to the widening gap on the home front. "Man's Job" essentially is about the disintegration of a marriage, and its coda, jarring at first, offers a glimmer of break-it-and-reset-it hope.
Blind Spot Pictures
PALM SPRINGS -- Prostitution provides a quick fix -- and an emotional undoing -- for an unemployed husband and father in A Man's Job, the Academy Award submission from Finland. With this well-observed second feature, writer-director Aleksi Salmenpera (Producing Adults) intensifies his exploration of intimacy and alienation in contemporary relationships. The drama, which recently screened at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, deserves wider Art House exposure.
Tommi Korpela is perfect as Juha, a strapping factory worker in his 30s who hides his layoff and monthslong job search from his listless wife, Katja (Maria Heiskanen). After the alarm wakes him and he has checked her supply of antidepressants, he heads for a local fast food cafe to brainstorm with Olli (Jani Volanen), a cab driver with an anxious gaze. The rivalrous chemistry between them is one of the film's most fascinating elements, and the two actors are never less than compelling as characters who are both lying to themselves. However medicated she might be, Katja's depression is in a sense the truest response in this sometimes comic scenario of disconnection.
Olli, who pretends not to be drinking anymore but still has trouble with the breathalyzer on his taxi, happens to be the father of Akseli (Konsta Pylkkonen), the boy Juha is raising as his own, along with his and Katja's two younger kids. In short order, he also becomes Juha's driver and pimp. On a handyman gig, a well-to-do woman offers Juha a higher hourly wage than he's ever dreamed of, for work that has nothing to do with the renovation of her house. Rediscovering the confidence his unemployment and troubled home life have drained from him, Juha sees prostitution as a simple solution.
But his encounters (all based on journalistic investigations) are often disquieting: the neediness and pain of neglected older women, the violent rage of an obese client, the mostly chaste curiosity of a 19-year-old girl with Down syndrome. Korpela embodies Juha's deepening unease and the heedlessness with which he's heading for a fall. Olli, meanwhile, awkwardly steps in to the widening gap on the home front. "Man's Job" essentially is about the disintegration of a marriage, and its coda, jarring at first, offers a glimmer of break-it-and-reset-it hope.
- 1/11/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
CANNES -- Finnish auteur Aki Kaurismaki is known for his wry, deadpan humor, off-center characters and absurdist tone. In Lights in the Dusk, the concluding film of his "loser trilogy" -- following Drifting Clouds and The Man Without a Past -- he has challenged himself and viewers anew. A lonely man's downward spiral of travails, for which he is blameless, is stripped to a minimalist emotional core: There are only a handful of locations and sets, few characters and even less extras. Plot mechanics are as rudimentary as a 1930s Hollywood backlot programmer. Characters are obvious, lacking in duplicity even when they aim to deceive.
Alas, Kaurismaki, who wrote, produced, directed and edited the film, also has stripped away any sense of purpose. Not that viewers won't "get" the film by the final scene; indeed those viewers got it by, perhaps, the third or fourth scene. Lights will put in more appearances at festivals before achieving a brief theatrical window for Kaurismaki devotees to gaze through. Most will do so with discouragement.
Kaurismaki compares his protagonist Koistinen, played with brave rectitude by Janne Hyytiainen, to Chaplin's Little Tramp. But the Little Tramp could be a cunning devil, never completely lacking in resources. Koistinen is nearly inert, letting evil events sweep him up without offering any resistance.
Koistinen is lonely. Every image screams this fact to you. His job as a security guard leaves him by himself for much of his work. He lives alone in a crummy flat, suffers ridicule with stoic forbearance and can't connect with anyone save for an empathetic mobile grill-stand lady, Aila (Maria Heiskanen), from whom he buys sodas and frankfurters.
A clumsy attempt to strike up a conversation in a bar with pretty blonde, Mirja (Maria Jarvenhelmi), gets her older "businessman" boyfriend (Ilkka Koivula) to thinking: Here is the perfect patsy to help him rob the shopping galleria Koistinen patrols. Mirja will be the lure to which he tumbles without a moment's thought.
With distressing ease, Mirja entices him to his doom, a couple of dates being all it takes for the crooks to rob the place and pin the blame on the guard. He even allows Mirja to plant evidence on him, leading to a prison sentence, since his sense of morality won't allow him to betray "his" girl. Don't you just want to kick the guy?
Scattered applause at the end of a Palais screening indicates some will indeed respond to this minimalist tale. But where Man Without a Past had deep reservoirs of feeling and an uncanny sense of humor, Lights just lays there, an object of puzzlement.
Timo Salminen's crisp, unblinking cinematography and the measured rhythms of Kaurismaki's own editing make the 78-minute Lights resemble a short story impressively told but essentially punchless in its emotional impact. The film's soundtrack is enlivened with songs by Finnish guitarist-songwriter Antero Jakoila, tango masters Ensemble Mastango and Carlos Gardel.
LIGHTS IN THE DUSK
Sputnik Oy/Pandora Films/Pyramide Prods.
Credits: Writer-director-producer-editor: Aki Kaurismaki; Director of photography: Timo Salminen; Production designer: Markku Patila; Costumes: Outi Harjupatana. Cast: Koistinen: Janne Hyytiainen; Mirja: Maria Jarvenhelmi; Aila: Maria Heiskanen; Lindholm: Ilkka Koivula.
No MPAA rating, running time 78 minutes.
Alas, Kaurismaki, who wrote, produced, directed and edited the film, also has stripped away any sense of purpose. Not that viewers won't "get" the film by the final scene; indeed those viewers got it by, perhaps, the third or fourth scene. Lights will put in more appearances at festivals before achieving a brief theatrical window for Kaurismaki devotees to gaze through. Most will do so with discouragement.
Kaurismaki compares his protagonist Koistinen, played with brave rectitude by Janne Hyytiainen, to Chaplin's Little Tramp. But the Little Tramp could be a cunning devil, never completely lacking in resources. Koistinen is nearly inert, letting evil events sweep him up without offering any resistance.
Koistinen is lonely. Every image screams this fact to you. His job as a security guard leaves him by himself for much of his work. He lives alone in a crummy flat, suffers ridicule with stoic forbearance and can't connect with anyone save for an empathetic mobile grill-stand lady, Aila (Maria Heiskanen), from whom he buys sodas and frankfurters.
A clumsy attempt to strike up a conversation in a bar with pretty blonde, Mirja (Maria Jarvenhelmi), gets her older "businessman" boyfriend (Ilkka Koivula) to thinking: Here is the perfect patsy to help him rob the shopping galleria Koistinen patrols. Mirja will be the lure to which he tumbles without a moment's thought.
With distressing ease, Mirja entices him to his doom, a couple of dates being all it takes for the crooks to rob the place and pin the blame on the guard. He even allows Mirja to plant evidence on him, leading to a prison sentence, since his sense of morality won't allow him to betray "his" girl. Don't you just want to kick the guy?
Scattered applause at the end of a Palais screening indicates some will indeed respond to this minimalist tale. But where Man Without a Past had deep reservoirs of feeling and an uncanny sense of humor, Lights just lays there, an object of puzzlement.
Timo Salminen's crisp, unblinking cinematography and the measured rhythms of Kaurismaki's own editing make the 78-minute Lights resemble a short story impressively told but essentially punchless in its emotional impact. The film's soundtrack is enlivened with songs by Finnish guitarist-songwriter Antero Jakoila, tango masters Ensemble Mastango and Carlos Gardel.
LIGHTS IN THE DUSK
Sputnik Oy/Pandora Films/Pyramide Prods.
Credits: Writer-director-producer-editor: Aki Kaurismaki; Director of photography: Timo Salminen; Production designer: Markku Patila; Costumes: Outi Harjupatana. Cast: Koistinen: Janne Hyytiainen; Mirja: Maria Jarvenhelmi; Aila: Maria Heiskanen; Lindholm: Ilkka Koivula.
No MPAA rating, running time 78 minutes.
- 5/23/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
COPENHAGEN, Denmark -- ''Il Capitano'' is Swedish director Jan Troell's return from years of documentary work to the fact-based fiction that brought him worldwide fame and theatrical distribution in 1971-73 with ''The Emigrants'' and ''The New Land'' (later TV-serialized in the United States as ''The Emigrant Saga''), and Hollywood assignments (''Zandy's Bride, '' 1974, and ''Hurricane, '' 1979).
Troell, with playwright Per Olov Enquist (of Broadway reknown for Strindberg-inspired ''Night of the Tribades, '' 1975), has fashioned a highly personal look at the acts, circumstance and backgrounds of a murder by gun and knife of three utterly innocent victims in a churchyard in Northern Sweden on July 3, 1988.
''Il Capitano'' has brought Cannes and Berlin festival representatives to Stockholm seeking Troell's film as a 1992 competition entry.
There are plenty of good reasons for this, and they herald triumphs for the film on the festival circuit as well as on the art cinema circuit everywhere. An added advantage: the dialog is so sparse, it will require a minimum of subtitling.
Combining edge-of-the-seat suspense with fluid cinematic movement, the film focuses on the two killers, a young vagrant styling himself ''Il Capitano'' and his even younger girlfriend. Through beautiful Northern Swedish landscapes of forests, rivers and villages, the film manages to avoid cheap thrills and gore as well as any hint of finger-pointing and social-psychologizing.
There are flashbacks to explain how the youngsters originally met, he a school dropout from a broken home, she from a culturally refined family. But mostly, Jari and Minna are seen as two individual personalities, drawn to each other by an inner sense of a destiny to be shared.
In one stolen car after another, the couple journey south from their native Finland on a thieving expedition that has hippiedom capital Amsterdam as its rather abstract goal. En route, they pick up rabbits as back-seat pets, drink and make love, stumble upon a shotgun and ammo and kill, without hesitation or remorse, a father, mother and son who unexpectedly confront them in the remote countryside.
The actual killings are seen only in an oblique way, but this adds to rather than subtracts from the suspense at a time when the audience has just settled down to a grudging liking of the two headstrong, yet powerless pawns of fate. Of the murdered family we are told only briefly in a police reconstruction. Throughout, Troell is a master cinematographer as well as director and editor.
''Il Capitano'' is every bit as strong in thriller melodrama values as ''Bonnie & Clyde, '' with which it will inevitably be compared. But the tension of Troell's film is heightened by the subdued way in which it is told rather than through explosions of visually shocking violence.
The shocks may be analyzed by some as a rumble of the volcano of our times.
The playing in the leads by near-amateurs Antti Reini and Maria Heisanen is strongly moving and totally convincing as their young faces reflect alternately hot tempers and soft submission, and as it gets more and more doubtful whether he or she is the real ''capitano'' steering their actions.
The real-life murderers were captured by police on a train passing through Denmark. They were brought to trial and sentenced to life-terms in Sweden. While ''Il Capitano'' was in production, a media debate accused Troell of ''exploitation.'' As the finished film stands, it is the general Swedish consensus that no tragedy could have been told with greater artistic beauty and strength.
IL CAPITANO
Pan Film Sweden, Polyphon Germany
Director-cinematographer-editor Jan Troell
Producer Goran Zetterberg
Screenplay Per Olov Enquist
Music Lars Akerlund, Sebastian Oberg
Color
Starring: Maria Heiskanen, Antti Reini
Running time -- 110 minutes
No MPAA rating
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
Troell, with playwright Per Olov Enquist (of Broadway reknown for Strindberg-inspired ''Night of the Tribades, '' 1975), has fashioned a highly personal look at the acts, circumstance and backgrounds of a murder by gun and knife of three utterly innocent victims in a churchyard in Northern Sweden on July 3, 1988.
''Il Capitano'' has brought Cannes and Berlin festival representatives to Stockholm seeking Troell's film as a 1992 competition entry.
There are plenty of good reasons for this, and they herald triumphs for the film on the festival circuit as well as on the art cinema circuit everywhere. An added advantage: the dialog is so sparse, it will require a minimum of subtitling.
Combining edge-of-the-seat suspense with fluid cinematic movement, the film focuses on the two killers, a young vagrant styling himself ''Il Capitano'' and his even younger girlfriend. Through beautiful Northern Swedish landscapes of forests, rivers and villages, the film manages to avoid cheap thrills and gore as well as any hint of finger-pointing and social-psychologizing.
There are flashbacks to explain how the youngsters originally met, he a school dropout from a broken home, she from a culturally refined family. But mostly, Jari and Minna are seen as two individual personalities, drawn to each other by an inner sense of a destiny to be shared.
In one stolen car after another, the couple journey south from their native Finland on a thieving expedition that has hippiedom capital Amsterdam as its rather abstract goal. En route, they pick up rabbits as back-seat pets, drink and make love, stumble upon a shotgun and ammo and kill, without hesitation or remorse, a father, mother and son who unexpectedly confront them in the remote countryside.
The actual killings are seen only in an oblique way, but this adds to rather than subtracts from the suspense at a time when the audience has just settled down to a grudging liking of the two headstrong, yet powerless pawns of fate. Of the murdered family we are told only briefly in a police reconstruction. Throughout, Troell is a master cinematographer as well as director and editor.
''Il Capitano'' is every bit as strong in thriller melodrama values as ''Bonnie & Clyde, '' with which it will inevitably be compared. But the tension of Troell's film is heightened by the subdued way in which it is told rather than through explosions of visually shocking violence.
The shocks may be analyzed by some as a rumble of the volcano of our times.
The playing in the leads by near-amateurs Antti Reini and Maria Heisanen is strongly moving and totally convincing as their young faces reflect alternately hot tempers and soft submission, and as it gets more and more doubtful whether he or she is the real ''capitano'' steering their actions.
The real-life murderers were captured by police on a train passing through Denmark. They were brought to trial and sentenced to life-terms in Sweden. While ''Il Capitano'' was in production, a media debate accused Troell of ''exploitation.'' As the finished film stands, it is the general Swedish consensus that no tragedy could have been told with greater artistic beauty and strength.
IL CAPITANO
Pan Film Sweden, Polyphon Germany
Director-cinematographer-editor Jan Troell
Producer Goran Zetterberg
Screenplay Per Olov Enquist
Music Lars Akerlund, Sebastian Oberg
Color
Starring: Maria Heiskanen, Antti Reini
Running time -- 110 minutes
No MPAA rating
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
- 11/19/1991
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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