UFO Sweden

I must say that I knew nothing about this film, all I saw was a teaser trailer on a small screen. But I had a good feeling about the film, although to be honest, I expected something different.

The film is set in Norrköping, Sweden, in the 90s and follows a smart but headstrong teen girl who has lost her father. Yet, there's a possibility he's alive. Intent on finding him and uncover the truth, she visits her father's old colleagues and friends at 'UFO-Sverige,' aka UFO Sweden. Which is, by the way, a real organization founded in the 70s.

This is the kind of film that I am missing in the american cinema these days. The screenplay definitely has an american influence to it though, and by that I mean the good ol' (late) 20th century america. For the most part, the story surprised me in a positive way.

I was also positively surprised by the cinematography. Despite being a relative newcomer to feature films, Victor Danell did a splendid job as a director.

Inez Dahl Torhaug and Jesper Barkselius were both great in their roles, and the supporting cast was solid.

(I see a bright future for Victor Danell and Inez Dahl Torhaug in the film industry!)

If you want to see a fun sci-fi themed film that is easy to watch, I'd recommend this. I rate it a strong 7+/10.

I stumbled upon the 2022 Swedish sci-fi adventure movie "UFO Sweden" by random luck here in 2023. I hadn't heard about the movie, so I didn't know what I was getting myself into as I opted to sit down and watch it.

Writers Victor Danell and Jimmy Nivrén Olsson put together a fairly interesting script and storyline for the movie. It is a story where the audience are kept pretty much in the dark throughout the majority of the movie. And on that account, I guess it is either a love it or hate it situation for the audience, as I suppose some viewers would like to be filled in on what is actually going on. Personally, then I enjoyed the secrecy and being kept in the dark.

Given my limited exposure to Swedish cinema, then I was unfamiliar with all performers on the cast list. However, I will say that they had a good collection of talents to perform in the movie, bringing the quirky characters to life in good ways on the screen.

While "UFO Sweden" is a rather ambitious undertaking from director Victor Danell, the movie did fare rather well.

Visually then "UFO Sweden" was okay. It is not a movie that made excessive use of CGI and special effects. But whatever effects were in the movie were actually looking quite nice, and helped further the movie in a rewarding manner.

If you enjoy sci-fi movies then you should definitely give "UFO Sweden" a chance. I am not a major sci-fi buff myself, but I did find this movie to be entertaining enough.

My rating of "UFO Sweden" lands on a six out of ten stars.

This is a B-movie with a high budget. The characters are under-developed and not believable. All technically related stuff in the movie is painfully unrealistic. There is a lot of mindless action that always ends in the way you thought it would.

I think the worst part is actually the characters and the writing. The actors themselfs are mostly fine and deliver (including the two main characters).

But the personalities are one-dimensional and narrow. They never say or do anything unexpected and it mostly feels they are just created to make the story fit together.

I will mention a few plus sides though: The cinematography and special effects are good. The choice of music is mostly good too. The setting in the 90s feels beliavable. It has a bit of funny moments as well.

At best, the movie has some "Stranger things" vibe to it. At worst, it makes you cringe and wanting to fast forward a segment or two.

Saw this at the Imagine film festival 2023 in Amsterdam. I assume this to be a movie for a much younger audience, letting viewers identify themselves with the lead actress Denise. Remember (in Dutch) the Bob Evers books, where young amateur detectives find the real truth where officials fail. Obviously, with my 75 years of age, I am way beyond the target group.

Lead protagonist Denise meets a collection of typical nerds in the form of UFO Sweden, a group so very anecdotical nerdy that it becomes too much to bear. Ditto with the 4-letter company owning a secret measurement station in the woods, not appearing on any maps. The company has an unwelcoming head office, seemingly very secure, but two of our nerds obtain access easily (too easy) via a backdoor. We meet their head of research a few times, The first time in the woods next to the officially non-existing station. She has all the appearances of a typical bureaucrat, very reluctant to cooperate. She did not admit that the station exists, even standing in front of it.

Very much later in the story, the same woman proves to be a true scientist under the skin. She changes heart once seeing the truth in the formulas shown to her, and happily works along with two intruders in a way that violates her job description on many counts.

I see little harm in the attempts made to simplify the laws of physics, calling names of famous scientists, mentioning well-known phenomena (relativity, wormholes etc), and using models for wormholes with sheets of paper.

I scored 3/5 for the audience award when leaving the venue. I must admit bias, knowing more about physics than an average viewer, and also not belonging to the target group of young people who are expected to identify themselves with lead-protagonist Denise.

PS: In the introductory address, one of the festival programmers said that the movie industry in Sweden succeeds for a fraction of the budget that Hollywood needs to still fail (said not exactly that; I paraphrase). This vintage movie feels genuine. It shows striking special effects, maybe made with better tools than exis-ted in the 80/90-ties it is situated in, but nevertheless looks neither over the top nor impossible for that era.

The movie Interstellar comes to mind even if the quality and professionalism is far from it, but then again of course most movies are. They must have been inspired by it. It is a nice and even sweet and fascinating story of a young girl/woman trying to find out what happened to her father. It is a nice sci fi movie from our neighbor Sweden. The story and acting is adequate except from the scenes with the police. Then it becomes very implausible and amateurish. I still give the movie a 7/10 because for me a 6 is "No, this is not worth watching". The sound is good in 5.1 without the music being dominant.