Jewels From Scandinavia

For the second year, the Swedish Embassy joins with SF Cinemas for the Swedish Film Festival, bringing seven recent mainstream movies to Bangkok. Screening at SFX the Emporium, the fest offers a mix of romance, comedy, drama and documentary, mostly critically acclaimed award-winners or nominees.

Yesterday’s opener was the multi-layered family drama “The Crown Jewels” (“Kronjuvelerna”), starring a member of Sweden’s well-known acting clan, Bill Skarsgard, son of Stellan and younger brother of Alexander. He’s the young son of a factory owner who is the target of an attempted murder. A young woman (Alicia Vikander) is arrested as a suspect. Directed by Ella Lemhagen, it won Best Film in the Generation 14plus category at last year’s Berlin International Film Festival.

Politics mixes with gay romance in the comedy “Four More Years” (“Fyra ar till”), which stars Bjorn Kjellman as a party leader who believes he’s on the verge of becoming the next prime minister. His loss at the polls sends him into a deep depression, but he’s uplifted when he meets a politically active young man (Eric Ericson), and he feels a special connection.

“Palme”, an award-winning documentary by Kristina Lindstrom and Maud Nycander, chronicles the life of Olof Palme, the Swedish prime minister who was fatally shot in 1986 while walking home from the cinema. The assassination remains unsolved. The film was a nominee for three of Sweden’s Guldbagge Awards this year, and won for editing and music.

“Stockholm East” features acclaimed performances from Mikael Persbrandt and Iben Hjejle. The drama is set in the Stockholm East railway station and is about two strangers united by an accident. Their relationship is passionate, but they each have lies that hide an inconvenient truth. Hjejle was named best actress at the Bratislava International Film Festival in 2011, and the film scored four Guldbagge Awards nominations last year, including best actor for Persbrandt.

Another award-winner is “I Miss You” (“Jag saknar dig”), a 2011 drama based on the 1992 novel “I Miss You, I Miss You!” by Peter Pohl and Kinna Gieth. It’s about teenage identical twin sisters who are separated by a tragic event. It won two awards, Best Youth Film at the Buster International Children’s Film Festival, and the Audience Award at the Goteborg Film Festival.

Another Skarsgard stars in “Happy End”, a 2011 drama that centres on a sensitive artist (Gustaf, a middle brother of Alexander and the younger Bill), who has moved back home with his mother and is suffering from the recent break-up with a girlfriend. He falls for his mother’s cleaning lady, but she has issues of her own. Ann Petren, Malin Buska, Johan Widerberg and Peter Andersson also star. It won the Guldbagge Award for best actress for Petren as the mother, and Widerberg and Andersson were supporting-actor nominees.

And there’s a switch back to comedy with “Cockpit”, in which an airline pilot who’s lost his job and is dumped by his wife decides to pose as a woman in hopes of getting back in control of his life. Jonas Karlsson stars.

  SWEET SWEDES

 The Swedish Film Festival runs until Sunday at SFX the Emporium. All movies have English subtitles. Free tickets are handed out on a first-come, first-served basis. Here is the schedule:

 Today – 5.30pm, “Four More Years”; 7.30pm, “Palme”

 Tomorrow – 5.30pm, “Stockholm East”; 7pm, “The Crown Jewels”

 Saturday – 3pm, “I Miss You”; 7.45pm, “Happy End” 

 Sunday – 3pm, “Cockpit”; 7.30pm, “Palme”