Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Evil/Ondskan (2003) - Håfström impresses with forceful Guillou adaptation

11/12/2022

Evil/Ondskan (2003) - Håfström impresses with forceful Guillou adaptation

♥♥♥♥♥

+ Best Period Movie of the Year + Best Swedish Movie of the Year

A fresh-faced young man in a boarding school uniform against a clouded sky makes up this poster for Mikael Håfström's Evil

Erik Ponti is a young violent thug, made so by his tyrannical, abusive step-father, who in 1958 sends him off to a boarding school for sons of Sweden's elite, where violence also plays a central role.

Evil is written by Hans Gunnarsson (King of Ping Pong/Ping-Pongkingen (2008)), Klas Östergren (Gentlemen (2014)) and great Swedish filmmaker, co-writer/director Mikael Håfström (Vendetta (1995)). It is an adaptation of the same-titled 1981 semi-autobiographical bestseller by Jan Guillou (The Road to Jerusalem/Vägen till Jerusalem (1998)). The English title is a literal translation of the original Swedish title.

The scenes of violence are staged with convincing power, and the acting performances, - with an intense, dogged Andreas Wilson (The Italian Key (2011)) in front as Erik, - are uniformly good in this well-made film of Guillou's school-time recollections, fantasies and traumas.

Evil has a fine width to its narrative, is a splendid production and edited to perfection. A compelling and exciting film.

Mikael Håfström: 1408 (2007) or, The Haunted Hotel Room

Derailed (2005) - Håfström's pointless romance thriller

2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

Watch a short clip from the film here

Cost: 20-22 mil. SEK, (different reports), approximately 1.92-2.11 mil. $

Box office: Approximately 7.48 mil. $

= Big hit (returned 3.54-3.89 times its cost)

[Evil premiered 16 May (Cannes Film Festival, out of competition) and runs 113 minutes. The adaptation had been envisioned as a TV-series, but Håfström convinced the producers to allow him to make it as a film. Shooting took place in 30 days from October - November 2002 in Stockholm. The film opened #102 to a 2k $ first weekend in North America, where it did not achieve a higher position although it widened to 4 theaters, grossing 15k $ (0.2 % of the total gross). The film was a huge hit in Sweden, where it sold 959,223 tickets, coming to approximately 6.45 mil. $ (86.2 %). It sold 50,776 tickets in Denmark, its 2nd biggest market, coming to approximately 510k $ (6.8 %). The 3rd biggest market was Norway with 280k $ (3.7 %). The film was nominated for the Best Foreign Film Oscar, lost to The Barbarian Invasions. It won 3/7 Guldbagge nominations (Sweden's Oscar), among other honors. Håfström returned with Drowning Ghost/Strandvaskaren (2004). Wilson returned in Animal (2005). Evil is fresh at 68 % with a 6.5/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Evil?

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Donald Sutherland has passed away

Born in Canada, Sutherland battled polio as a child. His first credit was in Suspense (1963, TV-series) and his first film was The Castle of the Living Dead (1964). Later credits in his remarkable career include The Saint (1965-66), The Dirty Dozen (1967), M*A*S*H (1970), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Klute (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), 1900 (1976), Casanova (1976), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Ordinary People (1980), A Dry White Season (1989), JFK (1991), Outbreak (1995), Fallen (1998), Virus (1999), Fierce People (2005), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Lord of War (2005), The Hunger Games (2012), The Undoing (2020, miniseries) and many more. He passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Roger Corman has passed away

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Corman had a sprawling, intellectually hungry life as a youth and young man before arriving with his first film in 1955, Five Guns West. He would follow that with titles such as Apache Woman, It Conquered the World, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Teenage Cave Man, A Bucket of Blood, House of Usher, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Intruder, The Raven, The Terror, The Masque of Red Death, The Tomb of Ligeia, The Wild Angels, The Trip, Bloody Mama and many more. As a producer he was behind almost 500 films. Arguably among the most important filmmakers of the 20th century, Corman passed away at age 98. R.I.P.

William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (16-24)

11/12/2022

Evil/Ondskan (2003) - Håfström impresses with forceful Guillou adaptation

2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

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