And Then We Danced/და ჩვენ ვიცეკვეთ (Da chven vitsek'vet) (2019) - Swede strikes for LGBT rights in Georgia

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The fantastical emotion of unhindered freedom found in folk dance is encapsulated beautifully on this elegant poster for Levan Akin's And Then We Danced

Merab is a passionate dancer in the tradition of Georgian folk dance, who falls for a new, male dance colleague and competitor during a period leading up to a pivotal audition in the traditional and Conservative country.

And Then We Danced is written, directed and co-edited by Levan Akin (Katinkas Kalas (2011)). The original Georgian title translates to, 'and we danced'.

With a dedicated and strong performance by debuting Levan Gelbakhiani as Merab and a thrilling insight into a rarely seen nation and culture, And Then We Danced attracts its viewers.  But its secret taboo romance is seen many times before and is related in a very leisurely pace, which dramatically slows our investment in the film, which is lifted by the finishing audition dance scene.

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: Unknown

Box office: 625k $

= Uncertain but likely a huge flop (projected return of 0.625 times its cost)

[And Then We Danced premiered 16 May (Cannes Film Festival, Director's Fortnight section) and runs 105 minutes. Akin, born in Sweden with Georgian ex-pat parents, decided to make the film after seeing footage of a Gay Pride parade in Georgia getting attacked by homophobes. 10 companies and support bodies collaborated in the financing and production of the film. Shooting took place in Georgia, including in Tbilisi. The film was met with death threats, protests, dismissals and a refusal for support by official Georgia, including the Culture Ministry, the Church and the National Ballet, due to the country's homophobic culture. Hundreds protested the films cinema screenings in Georgia, with the police forcefully enforcing the peace and safety of cinema-goers. The Georgian gross is regrettably not reported online. The film opened #48 to a 13k $ first weekend in 2 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #43 and in 23 theaters (different weekends), grossing 177k $ (28.3 % of the total gross). North America was the film's 2nd biggest market. The biggest was Spain with 182k $ (29.1 %); 3rd biggest was the Netherlands with 142k $ (22.7 %). The cost of the film is unknown but is here projected to have been a low 1 mil. $. The film was nominated for a European Film award and won 4/7 Guldbagge award nominations, among other honors. It was chosen as Sweden's film for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar but did not get nominated. Akin returned with Deg (2021, TV-series) and theatrically with Crossing (2024). Gelbakhiani has not returned in a film yet but is slated to return in two films in post production, Don't Let the Sun (Catch You Crying) and Youri. And Then We Danced is certified fresh at 93 % with a 7.90/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of And Then We Danced?

Rom (2024) - Bendixen and terrific trio win with great romcom

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A beloved trio of seasoned actors in one of the world's most beloved cities tease on this poster for Niclas Bendixen's Rom

Gerda and Kristoffer have been married for 40 years and have been gifted a vacation in Rome by their daughter. But when they happen upon Gerda's old Swedish art teacher there, the stay gets thrown on its head, and old secrets and truths start to seep out.

Rom is written by co-writer/co-star Kristian Halken (A Funny Man/Dirch (2011)), co-writer/executive producer Christian Torpe (Rita (2012-20)) and co-writer/director, great Danish filmmaker Niclas Bendixen (Ditte & Louise (2018)). The original Danish title translates to 'Rome'.

The film's motor is first and foremost its star trio: Halken as the delightfully frank and ordinary man Kristoffer; Bodil Jørgensen (Hvide Sande (2011, TV-series)) as the more vivacious Gerda, whose buried passions are unearthed by Rolf Lassgård (Min Pappa Marianne (2020)) as the expat hedonist. They all three give delightful performances in a film that bursts with a sense of spontaneous fun and lightness.

Manuel Alberto Claro's (The Pact/Pagten (2021)) cinematography imbues the Roman holiday that encompasses the entire film with this sense of 'real-life' and spontaneity. The plot and lines are funny, filled with fine little details and unpretentious but charming turns. Underlying the misadventure rests a keen wisdom about love and marriage, and Bendixen and his stars capture this very well in a genuinely funny, very successful romcom that also wins on lots of lovely local Italian flavors in the guise of performances, locations and vocabulary.

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 2.592 mil. €, approximately 2.8 mil. $

Box office: 1.01 mil. $ and counting

= Uncertain

[Rom premiered 3 February (Göteborg Film Festival, Sweden) and runs 98 minutes. 1.347 mil. € of the film's budget came from a DFI subsidy. Shooting took place in Rome, Italy. Bendixen's mother passed away suddenly during shooting. The film opened #1 in Denmark, where it has sold 90k tickets to date and plays in the Biografklub Danmark/Cinema Club Denmark, meaning that a large portion of its patrons pay only half prize. It is set to release in Sweden on 5 April. Bendixen does not have his next film announced yet. Jørgensen returns in Seaside Hotel/Badehotellet (2013-) and theatrically in B.O.Y - Bruises of Yesterday; Lassgård in Whiskey on the Rocks (2024, miniseries), with no theatrical return announced yet; and Halken's return is not announced yet. 67 IMDb users have given Rom a 7.4/10 average rating.]

What do you think of Rom?

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

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+ 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.

 

Related posts:

 

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?

Margrete den Første (2021) - Dyrholm commands in Sieling's plush historical drama

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+ Best Danish Movie of the Year + Best Historical Drama of the Year 

 

The titular queen stands before a fiery conflict on this dramatic poster for Charlotte Sieling's Margrete den Første

Danish Queen Margrete has managed to unite the previously warring Nordic countries in 1402 and is preparing to strike another vital alliance with the British kingdom, when a man shows up, claiming to be her son and the rightful king.

 

Margrete den Første is written by Jesper Fink (Before the Frost/Før Frosten (2018)), Maya Ilsøe (Absalons Hemmelighed (2006, TV-series)) and co-writer/director Charlotte Sieling (Over Gaden Under Vandet (2009)). It is based on a true story.

An impressive production with sweeping production value, - especially the production design and costumes are commendable, - Margrete den Første succeeds in setting us in the very old times' very top of Scandinavian power with a naturalness that is pivotal in order for the exercise to come together.

Trine Dyrholm (Okay (2002)) is spot-on as the strong leader, whose mind is bent on peace and stability, but whose reign gets shaken to its core by the possibility that her long-deceased son may not have actually died but instead been held captive in Germany for 15 years. Jakob Oftebro (Tom of Finland (2017)) gives one of the most credibly tormented performances of recent memory as Oluf, who is at first rejected as a con artist. His performance makes it almost impossible not to believe that he is her son.

The film rests on this strange story of biological doubt. Morten Hee Andersen (Sygeplejeskolen (2018-19)) is forceful as Margrete's adopted son Erik, who gets furious at the possibility of a true heir rising to the throne. Søren Malling (The Man/Mesteren (2017)) is terrific as the leader of the church. Sieling lets silent moments take place, letting the actors' faces speak for them, which are some of the best moments in the film. It is an exciting, strange story in Margrete den Første, told with a calm seriousness.

 

Related post:

 

2021 in films - according to Film Excess 

 

Watch a short teaser for the film here

 

Cost: Reportedly 73 mil. DKK, approximately 11.51 mil. $

Box office: 1.025 mil. $ and counting

= Too early to say - but has very far to go to break even

[Margrete den Første premiered 21 August (Norwegian International Film Festival) and runs 120 minutes. 20 companies and foundations cooperated to finance and make the film, including Denmark's current Queen Margrete II and the late Prince Consort Henrik's foundation. These and others involved stepped in to support the film, when its filming was shut down due to China Virus, and the budget ballooned with 8.5 mil. DKK as a consequence. Shooting took place in the Czech Republic. The film has opened to 93k admissions in its first week's release in main production country Denmark, where it is also playing as part of Biografklub Danmark, meaning that many audiences only pay half prize for their tickets. The film is set to open in Sweden on 3 December. Sieling does not have her next project announced yet. Dyrholm returned in Forhøret (2019-21) and theatrically in Ingen Kender Dagen (2022). 119 IMDb users have given Margrete den Første a 7.1/10 average rating.]

 

What do you think of Margrete den Første? 

Fuglekrigen i Kanøfleskoven (1990) or, Every Bird for Himself

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Birds in a dark environment play music and dance (with rats), while an ominous vulture readies to feed on them on this poster for Jannik Hastrup's Fuglekrigen i Kanøfleskoven

A young bird in the forest called Oliver gets a good friend and later girlfriend in fellow bird Olivia, and they stage a united front against the vulture tyrant of the forest, Fagin. - But precious few will help them.

Fuglekrigen i Kanøfleskoven is written by Bent Haller (Dreaming of Paradise/Strit og Stumme (1987)), based on his own children's book Fuglekrigen (1979), and directed by great Danish filmmaker Jannik Hastrup (Sandheden (1964)). The original Danish title translates to, 'the bird war in the reproach forest'.
It is a fairly typical Haller-Hastrup collaboration, which pushes the view that people are stupid and ignorant, and that adults aren't much help but are often selfish and/or downright malicious.
Two mice from Hastrup's popular Cirkeline (1967-70) animation get dragged into the story, and this is one of those films were developments seem to be invented primarily as a means to boost the running time.
Tommy Kenter's (Chop Chop/Fukssvansen (2001)) voice performance as the owl, which was inspired by W.C. Fields, is one of the best things in the film, but Ove Sprogøe (Kurt og Valde (1983)) and Anne Marie Helger (Jungledyret Hugo (2003, TV-series)) as the two magpies are also funny.
Fuglekrigen i Kanøfleskoven is singular and out-spoken but in no way deep or inspired exactly, and the animation isn't beautiful or original.

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 12 mil. DKK, approximately 2 mil. $
Box office: Unknown
= Uncertain
[Fuglekrigen i Kanøfleskoven was released 28 September (Denmark) and runs 68 minutes. No box office information is made available, regrettably, though the Danish Film Institute, (one of the production companies behind the film), called it a "big audience success" in its primary production company Denmark, and also inform that the film was distributed with 80 and 40 copies made, respectively, for the German and French market. The film was also released in Iceland, Sweden, Japan, Finland and the Netherlands. It won the Best Film for the Youth award in Cannes 1990. 30 seconds of profanity was cut out for a North-American release of the film, which never came to fruition. It won a Robert award (Denmark's Oscar) for Best Sound. Hastrup returned with 3 shorts and theatrically with Aberne og det Hemmelige Våben (1995). 711 IMDb users have given Fuglekrigen i Kanøfleskoven a 7.3/10 average rating.]

What do you think of Fuglekrigen i Kanøfleskoven?

Film Excess' 5th birthday movie masterpiece: Hunger/Sult/Svält (1966) - Oscarsson leaves you breathless in Carlsen's impressionist masterpiece

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Per Oscarsson lifts his hat for us on this ominously discolored poster for Henning Carlsen's Hunger

A man by the name of Pontus is an aspiring writer, who is becoming increasingly desperate with hunger in Kristiania [now known as Norway's capital Oslo] in 1890. His Achilles heel, however, is also his own over-developed pride, which makes him give away the few kroner he acquires now and then to others in need.

Hunger is an adaptation of Norwegian master writer Knut Hamsun's (Pan (1894)) semi-autobiographical, same-titled 1890 novel, written by Peter Seeberg (Hjulet (1967), based on his novel) and Danish master co-writer-director Henning Carlsen (A Happy Divorce/Un Divorce Heureux/En Lykkelig Skilsmisse (1975)). It is a complex and serious film that can be seen again and again. It is equally amazing every time.
Pontus is a miserable wretch, and you can't help but feel for him in the guise of Per Oscarsson (Polisen som Vägrade Ta Semester (1984), miniseries): At turns highly sensitive and going mad, he tries to uphold his dignity but the painful starvation drives out his polemical side and hallucinations. Oscarsson's performance here will leave you breathless; it stands tall as one of the all-time greatest actor's performances in cinema. You are not likely to ever see anyone portray the effects of hunger with more potency than he achieves here.
Hunger is shot stunningly in B/W by Carlsen himself, and its atmosphere and beautiful lighting are beyond reproach. Hunger is a striking, deeply affecting impressionist major work of art as well as a high-point in Scandinavian film, a masterpiece of the highest integrity.

Related posts:


Henning Carlsen: Memories of My Melancholy Whores/Memoria de Mis Putas Tristes (2011) - Carlsen signs out with a dubious adaptation

Previous Film Excess birthday movie masterpieces: Film Excess' 4th birthday movie masterpiece: From Here to Eternity (1953) - Zinnemann, Taradash and Jones' Hawaii-set classic
Film Excess' 3rd birthday movie masterpiece: Anatomy of a Murder (1959) - The courtroom movie to rule them all
Film Excess' 2nd birthday movie masterpiece: The King's Speech (2010) - Hooper's soaring, royal masterpiece about overcoming human frailty

Film Excess' 1st birthday movie masterpiece: Broadway Danny Rose (1984) or, Keep Your Heart

Watch the hypnotic opening scene of the film here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: Unknown
= Uncertain
[Hunger premiered 11 May (Cannes Film Festival, in competition) and runs 111 minutes. It was the first co-production between Denmark, Sweden and Norway. Shooting took place in Oslo, Norway. Oscarsson starved himself and walked a very long distance to the shooting in order to get into character. Many of the streets shown in the film do no longer exist. The film reportedly sold a measly 3,951 tickets in Carlsen's native Denmark. It was released in the three producing countries, Finland, USA and Australia initially, but its box office performances are unlisted. Oscarsson won the Best Actor award in Cannes, and the film was Denmark's bid for the Best Foreign Film category at the Oscars, but it was not nominated. The film additionally won a National Board of Review award, a Guldbagge (Sweden's Oscar) for Oscarsson and two Bodil awards (Danish film critics' awards). Carlsen returned with People Meet and Sweet Music Fills the Heart/Människor Möts och Ljuv Musik Uppstår i Hjärtat (1967). Oscarsson returned as a guest in The D.T.'s/Myten (1966) and with real parts in Patrasket (1966, TV movie) and ABC Stage 67 (1966, TV-series) and theatrically in Here Is Your Life/Här Har Du Ditt Liv (1966). 2,359 IMDb users have given Hunger a 7.9/10 average rating.]

What do you think of Hunger?

Fanny and Alexander/Fanny och Alexander (1982) - Bergman's treasured mammoth drama farewell

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Carefully arranged on a portrait photograph, the title characters of Ingmar Bergman's Fanny and Alexander attract attention for the film on its Swedish poster

Fanny and Alexander are siblings in Sweden in 1907, born into the large upper middle-class Ekdahl family. After they lose their father, their mother turns to the local bishop for a second, respectable husband. Life has its good and bad times for her and her children.

Fanny and Alexander is a wonderful, warm film about sorrow and death, childhood and religion. - Its thematic range could even be expanded to simply be: Life. It was the first film by Swedish master filmmaker Ingmar Bergman (The Magician/Ansiktet (1958)) that I saw, and this only makes it more special for me. Bergman wrote and directed the film, which is semi-autobiographical.
Fanny and Alexander is a drama in epic length, which narrative charts a different course than most traditional films. - Still, the way the story is told is masterful, and the actors of the large ensemble carry the film admirably.
The storytelling of Fanny and Alexander is thoroughly evocative, making us feel as though we can almost sense the heat of the crackling fire in the hearth we are watching. The production design in the film, - from the flamboyant Christmas party of the Ekdahls in the first part of the film to the bare, grimly cold home of the bishop, - is detail-oriented and outstanding. Fanny and Alexander is an experience one shouldn't rob oneself of.

Related post:

Ingmar Bergman: The Magician/Ansiktet (1958) or, Fool the Townfolk

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 6-7 mil. $ (different sources)
Box office: 6.7 mil. $ (North America only)
= Uncertain
[Fanny and Alexander premiered 17 December (Sweden) and runs 188 minutes (theatrical version) and 312 minutes (TV miniseries version, - which I regrettably still haven't seen). Bergman wrote the script in the summer of 1979, intending it to be his last film, explaining; "I don't have the strength any more, neither psychologically nor physically." The film was molded around his own childhood in Uppsala, Sweden, which he termed "happy and privileged." The film's 40 mil. SEK budget made it the most expensive Swedish film up to that time. Swedish stars Liv Ullmann and Max Von Sydow ditched the film for different reasons before shooting and were replaced, which they both later regretted. Shooting took place from September 1981 - March 1982 in Uppsala and in Stockholm studios, Sweden. Gunnar Björnstrand (Filip Landahl in the film) acted despite suffering from Alzheimers, and Gunn Wållgren (Helena in the film) suffered from cancer and was secretly in pain but acted anyway. The film has 60 characters with lines, employed 1,200 extras and featured 1,250 costumes. Bergman intended Fanny and Alexander as a miniseries but for commercial reasons was obligated to cut a theatrical version, which he did with many pains, calling it "to cut into the nerves and lifeblood of the film." A year after the release, the 312 minute full version was released in Swedish cinemas, later recognized as one of the longest films in history. Audiences were large in Bergman's native Sweden for both versions, and it became his biggest hit there. It made 6.7 mil. $ in North America, where it played in the summer of 1983 and was later (in 1991) recognized as the 5th biggest Swedish film in North America up to that time. A world gross is not made public, but the film drew the following crowds; 374k (France), 165k (Germany) and 70k (Denmark). - Whether it became financially successful theatrically is hard to decipher based on these numbers alone. Roger Ebert gave the film a 4/4 star review, translating to a notch better than this one. The film was nominated for 6 Oscars, the 3rd most nominated film of the year: Best Art Direction (won), Cinematography (Sven Nykvist, won), Costume Design (won), Director (lost to James L. Brooks for Terms of Endearment), Foreign Film (won) and Original Screenplay (lost to Horton Foote for Tender Mercies). It was barred from the Best Picture race due to Sweden's nominating it for the Best Foreign Film category. The film also won 1/2 Golden Globes, 1/3 BAFTAs, one César award, 3 David di Donatello awards, 3 Guldbagge awards, 2 National Board of Review awards, the Venice Film Festival's FIPRESCI award and many other honors. Stage adaptations of the film has been played in many countries in the new millennium. While Bergman continued to work on especially TV movies, Fanny and Alexander is his last theatrical feature. Fanny and Alexander is fresh at 100 % with an 8.9 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]


What do you think of Fanny and Alexander?

A Hole in My Heart/Ett Hål i Mitt Hjärta (2004) or, A Hole in My Brain

[ZERO]

 

+ 3rd Worst Movie of the Decade

+ Worst Movie of the Year

A young woman seems to have passed out in some cereal or her own vomit on this poster for Lukas Moodysson's A Hole in My Heart

4 people are in a small, ugly apartment; 3 of them are making a porno flick. The fourth is an insufferably depressed emo-son of one of the pornographers.

A Hole in My Heart is a complete botch by Swedish master writer-director Lukas Moodysson (Lilya 4-Ever (2002)). It is a bit as if a white racist had made a film about blacks, this simply being the deeply prejudiced, one-sided and unwatchable pornography narrative conjured up by a pornography-hater. Few if any good films have ever sprung from hate, and A Hole in My Heart sure isn't one to change that.
The mix of nonsense is dreadfully related to us in off-putting digital photography. The least unsympathetic of the four is the exceedingly drab son, (played by Björn Almroth, who hasn't appeared in anything before or since), and this may constitute the movie's primary sin: It is unbearably dull throughout, as well as pretentious in the extreme.
I value some of Moodysson's other films tremendously, but I don't hesitate in calling A Hole in My Heart a mountain of plot-deprived bull. Trash.

 

Related post:

 

2004 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

The 2000s in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

An interview with Moodysson in connection with his most recent film, We Are the Best!/Vi Är Bäst! (2013)

Cost: Unknown
Box office: Unknown
= Unknown (but likely a mega-flop)
[A Hole in My Heart premiered 10 September (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 98 minutes. Moodysson initially intended to shoot the film in the US and ask Christina Aguilera and Sylvester Stallone to star in it, but realized he couldn't do it. It was shot in 4 weeks in Trollhättan, Sweden in August 2003. At least one of the cast members, Thorsten Flinck, reportedly took morphine during shooting to cope with the troubling work.The film was released with a 'disturbing images'-warning on its posters in Sweden, which the censors there hadn't done since Pier Paolo Pasolini's Salò (1976). It was shown in a few theaters, and 16,425 paid admission there in its first two weeks. In Denmark, who acted as co-producing country behind the film, just 1,402 paid admission to see it. The film was released in 1 theater in North America, where it played for two weeks at #112 and #131 and grossed 3,784 $. If the budget was a modest 5 mil. SEK (approximately 0.56 mil. $), the film looks like a mega-flop theatrically. It was, incredibly, nominated for the European Film Award and the Nordic Council Film Prize. A Hole in My Heart is rotten at 41 % with a 4 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of A Hole in My Heart?

The Magician/Ansiktet/The Face (1958) or, Fool the Townfolk

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A strongly mystery-denoting original Swedish poster for Ingmar Bergman's The Magician

Dr. Vogler and his little troupe of con-men/magicians arrive in Södermalm, Sweden, in 1846, where they are confronted with the town's skeptical, haughty aristocrats. 

The Magician is written and directed by Swedish master filmmaker Ingmar Bergman (Face to Face/Ansikte mot Ansikte (1976)) as his 20th theatrical feature. The original title translates to, 'the face'. 

As the masks fall in the film's compelling story, The Magician turns into a trembling showdown between judgemental, proud, pompous science and the right to believe and believe in superstition. The final ribbon that ties the tale together is a most merry one. There is plenty of both wisdom and foolishness before this.
The Magician is simply composed over diametric opposites and done in a frank and open-minded style with delightful acting, - especially from Ingrid Thulin (Winter Light/Nattvardsgästerna (1963)) and the other women.
This vivid gem blends comedy, thriller aspects and philosophy with drama in an elegant and enthusiastic way. It is a treasure from one of Bergman's most productive years, 1958, in which he directed two feature films and two TV movies.

Related posts:

Ingmar Bergman: Fanny and Alexander/Fanny och Alexander (1982) - Bergman's treasured mammoth drama farewell
All These Women/Now About These Women/För att Inte Tala om Alla Dessa Kvinnor (1964) - Bergman's pitifully awful farce

Watch a montage of the picturesque film here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: Unknown
= Uncertain
[The Magician was released 26 December (Sweden) and runs 107 minutes. The script was inspired by G.K. Chesterton's play Magic, which Bergman had previously staged. The film was shot in Stockholm, Sweden. It was chosen as Sweden's entry for the Oscars but didn't get nominated. It was nominated for a BAFTA and won 3 awards at the 1959 Venice Film Festival. Bergman returned with Storm Weather/Oväder (1960, TV movie) and theatrically with his masterpiece The Virgin Spring/Jungfrukällan (1960). Max Von Sydow (Dreamscape (1984)) returned in The Virgin Spring; Thulin in Älska (1959, TV movie), Vår Ofödde Son (1959, TV movie) and theatrically in The Judge/Domaren (1960); Gunnar Björnstrand (Taboo/Tabu (1977)) in Swinging at the Castle/Det Svänger på Slottet (1959); and Bibi Andersson (Drømspel (1994)) in Lilith (1959, TV movie) and theatrically in Den Kära Leken (1959). The Magician is fresh at 100 % with a 8.14/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Magician?