Feature – Sweden / International Première


Click here to view the Swedish trailer.

Showing @ Filmhouse 1, Sat 23 Jun @ 17.40 & Filmhouse 3, Sun 24 Jun @ 13.00

Patrik Eklund / Sweden / 2012 / 96 min

A film centred on the staff of a failing Swedish telecoms company really shouldn’t be this much fun, but thanks to the idiosyncratic eye of director Patrik Eklund and a wonderful cast, Flicker is an off the wall delight. The film follows four characters: Kenneth (Jacob Nordenson), the put upon company accountant whose world is slowly fracturing through an accretion of small setbacks, Birgitta (Anki Larsson), the arachnophobic cleaner, and two technicians, Roland and Jörgen (Jimmy Lindström and Olle Sarri) whose lives are changed irrevocably by an accident.

If all this sounds like a typical dour Scandinavian fayre, then it couldn’t be further from the case. Eklund’s left field style – think Wes Anderson with a sprinkle of Jean-Pierre Jeunet – is so packed full of inventiveness and unpredictable twists that all you can do is hang on for the ride. Eklund beautifully balances the bizarre with human touches, with characters who are believable and easy to warm to. Particularly in the case of Lindström’s distraught Jimmy there’s a truth to his experience even if framed in a left field context. This is a genuine cinematic treat: creative, engaging and wholly satisfying. There might be films that are more intellectually nourishing at this year’s festival, but few will be as simply pleasurable as time spent with this bunch of Swedish oddballs.