A sweet coming-of-age story with just enough of that trademark Swedish sexuality to make it attractive to art house audiences, "Swedish Beauty" plays like a combination of "Cinema Paradiso" and "Summer of '42". The tale of a 15-year-old boy's near simultaneous introductions to the world of sex and filmmaking, Daniel Fridell's film represents the triumph of the young film geek grown up to be a real movie director working with beautiful actresses. It recently received its world premiere at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival.
Best friends Anders and Borje live in a small village, where the chief activities revolve around the local movie house and, for Borje, finding new opportunities for masturbation. Their lives are altered with the arrival in town of the supremely sexy older teenage beauty Sofia, a dead ringer for Brigitte Bardot. The two boys immediately start scheming as to how they might get to see Sofia naked, and Anders hits upon the idea of making their own movie, featuring a nude swimming scene, of course, expressly for that purpose.
The plan soon seems to be working, with Anders embracing his status as a budding filmmaker and Sofia becoming increasingly entranced with her own image onscreen. But a Fonzie-style young tough, Billy, who has his own designs on the new arrival, foils it. Wangling his way into the film, his machinations make the neophyte director so jealous that he briefly loses control of his production. Eventually, Anders does wind up in bed with his starlet, but the sex is so impersonal and unromantic that he winds up having to be consoled by his mother.
The film well captures both the dynamics of teen sexuality -- Anders is so stressed by his own desires that he's continually running to the bathroom -- and the joy of wielding a camera for the first time and finding a new outlet for creative expression. While the plot dynamics sometimes have the formulaic feel of an "Afterschool Special", there are enough witty and insightful moments to make up for any of the screenplay's cliches. It helps, too, that the young performers are pitch perfect in their roles, and that Jenny Ulving, the actress playing the title role, more than lives up her character's status as the resident sex symbol.
SWEDISH BEAUTY
Scanbox International
Director: Daniel Fridell
Screenwriters: Gundar Andersson, Daniel Fridell, Jimmy Karlsson, Hakan Bjerking
Producer: Hakan Bjerking
Director of photography: Esa Vuorinen
Editor: Janus Billeskov-Jansen
Set designer: Eva Noren
Color/stereo
Cast:
Anders: Francisco Jacob
Borje: Victor Kallander
Sofia: Jenny Ulving
Angelika: Nadine Kirschon
Billy: Mats Helin
Running time -- 89 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Best friends Anders and Borje live in a small village, where the chief activities revolve around the local movie house and, for Borje, finding new opportunities for masturbation. Their lives are altered with the arrival in town of the supremely sexy older teenage beauty Sofia, a dead ringer for Brigitte Bardot. The two boys immediately start scheming as to how they might get to see Sofia naked, and Anders hits upon the idea of making their own movie, featuring a nude swimming scene, of course, expressly for that purpose.
The plan soon seems to be working, with Anders embracing his status as a budding filmmaker and Sofia becoming increasingly entranced with her own image onscreen. But a Fonzie-style young tough, Billy, who has his own designs on the new arrival, foils it. Wangling his way into the film, his machinations make the neophyte director so jealous that he briefly loses control of his production. Eventually, Anders does wind up in bed with his starlet, but the sex is so impersonal and unromantic that he winds up having to be consoled by his mother.
The film well captures both the dynamics of teen sexuality -- Anders is so stressed by his own desires that he's continually running to the bathroom -- and the joy of wielding a camera for the first time and finding a new outlet for creative expression. While the plot dynamics sometimes have the formulaic feel of an "Afterschool Special", there are enough witty and insightful moments to make up for any of the screenplay's cliches. It helps, too, that the young performers are pitch perfect in their roles, and that Jenny Ulving, the actress playing the title role, more than lives up her character's status as the resident sex symbol.
SWEDISH BEAUTY
Scanbox International
Director: Daniel Fridell
Screenwriters: Gundar Andersson, Daniel Fridell, Jimmy Karlsson, Hakan Bjerking
Producer: Hakan Bjerking
Director of photography: Esa Vuorinen
Editor: Janus Billeskov-Jansen
Set designer: Eva Noren
Color/stereo
Cast:
Anders: Francisco Jacob
Borje: Victor Kallander
Sofia: Jenny Ulving
Angelika: Nadine Kirschon
Billy: Mats Helin
Running time -- 89 minutes
No MPAA rating...
A sweet coming-of-age story with just enough of that trademark Swedish sexuality to make it attractive to art house audiences, "Swedish Beauty" plays like a combination of "Cinema Paradiso" and "Summer of '42". The tale of a 15-year-old boy's near simultaneous introductions to the world of sex and filmmaking, Daniel Fridell's film represents the triumph of the young film geek grown up to be a real movie director working with beautiful actresses. It recently received its world premiere at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival.
Best friends Anders and Borje live in a small village, where the chief activities revolve around the local movie house and, for Borje, finding new opportunities for masturbation. Their lives are altered with the arrival in town of the supremely sexy older teenage beauty Sofia, a dead ringer for Brigitte Bardot. The two boys immediately start scheming as to how they might get to see Sofia naked, and Anders hits upon the idea of making their own movie, featuring a nude swimming scene, of course, expressly for that purpose.
The plan soon seems to be working, with Anders embracing his status as a budding filmmaker and Sofia becoming increasingly entranced with her own image onscreen. But a Fonzie-style young tough, Billy, who has his own designs on the new arrival, foils it. Wangling his way into the film, his machinations make the neophyte director so jealous that he briefly loses control of his production. Eventually, Anders does wind up in bed with his starlet, but the sex is so impersonal and unromantic that he winds up having to be consoled by his mother.
The film well captures both the dynamics of teen sexuality -- Anders is so stressed by his own desires that he's continually running to the bathroom -- and the joy of wielding a camera for the first time and finding a new outlet for creative expression. While the plot dynamics sometimes have the formulaic feel of an "Afterschool Special", there are enough witty and insightful moments to make up for any of the screenplay's cliches. It helps, too, that the young performers are pitch perfect in their roles, and that Jenny Ulving, the actress playing the title role, more than lives up her character's status as the resident sex symbol.
SWEDISH BEAUTY
Scanbox International
Director: Daniel Fridell
Screenwriters: Gundar Andersson, Daniel Fridell, Jimmy Karlsson, Hakan Bjerking
Producer: Hakan Bjerking
Director of photography: Esa Vuorinen
Editor: Janus Billeskov-Jansen
Set designer: Eva Noren
Color/stereo
Cast:
Anders: Francisco Jacob
Borje: Victor Kallander
Sofia: Jenny Ulving
Angelika: Nadine Kirschon
Billy: Mats Helin
Running time -- 89 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Best friends Anders and Borje live in a small village, where the chief activities revolve around the local movie house and, for Borje, finding new opportunities for masturbation. Their lives are altered with the arrival in town of the supremely sexy older teenage beauty Sofia, a dead ringer for Brigitte Bardot. The two boys immediately start scheming as to how they might get to see Sofia naked, and Anders hits upon the idea of making their own movie, featuring a nude swimming scene, of course, expressly for that purpose.
The plan soon seems to be working, with Anders embracing his status as a budding filmmaker and Sofia becoming increasingly entranced with her own image onscreen. But a Fonzie-style young tough, Billy, who has his own designs on the new arrival, foils it. Wangling his way into the film, his machinations make the neophyte director so jealous that he briefly loses control of his production. Eventually, Anders does wind up in bed with his starlet, but the sex is so impersonal and unromantic that he winds up having to be consoled by his mother.
The film well captures both the dynamics of teen sexuality -- Anders is so stressed by his own desires that he's continually running to the bathroom -- and the joy of wielding a camera for the first time and finding a new outlet for creative expression. While the plot dynamics sometimes have the formulaic feel of an "Afterschool Special", there are enough witty and insightful moments to make up for any of the screenplay's cliches. It helps, too, that the young performers are pitch perfect in their roles, and that Jenny Ulving, the actress playing the title role, more than lives up her character's status as the resident sex symbol.
SWEDISH BEAUTY
Scanbox International
Director: Daniel Fridell
Screenwriters: Gundar Andersson, Daniel Fridell, Jimmy Karlsson, Hakan Bjerking
Producer: Hakan Bjerking
Director of photography: Esa Vuorinen
Editor: Janus Billeskov-Jansen
Set designer: Eva Noren
Color/stereo
Cast:
Anders: Francisco Jacob
Borje: Victor Kallander
Sofia: Jenny Ulving
Angelika: Nadine Kirschon
Billy: Mats Helin
Running time -- 89 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 12/11/2001
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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