Videomannen

This may have a bigger impace on people who had video store to go to. And I mean the one that had VHS tapes to rent or sell you. And then there is the Giallo aspect to it. I'm not really a fan of the genre overall, but you do can feel the love the director has for the genre. There are so many references to it. And the other great thing (if you are into that): it mixes comedy (not slapstick mind you) and horror - and it does a fantastic job at that.

Then take the acting and it goes beyond all. It really is something and while it may not affect everyone who watches it, the sheer amount of dedication (the years it took to make and so forth) is amazing. Just for that I got mad love for this movie - and the director is one of the nicest people you can meet. And just to be clear, only met him once (festival) and loved the movie even before meeting (and telling him about it)

This was an unexpected good movie with both laughter and a creping sensation down the neck, that made me check the door lock an extra time time when i got home. With excellent feal and referens to the 80,s VHS boom for all the nostalgic movie fans. Also fun to see some (in Sweden) big actors in not the biggest roles. And all actors deliver without a doubt a good preformance. A well made movie that suprice you in more ways than one.

'Videoman' is one of the all too rare films featuring a greatly flawed middle-aged male protagonist I can readily relate to, which, quite frankly, also made for frequently uneasy viewing! Ex-video-shop proprietor Ennio Midena (Stefan Sauk) is a disenfranchised, heavy-drinking divorcee, an increasingly bitter loner, wholly unwilling to connect to the self-absorbed swill of social media, an analogue diehard in a disorientating digital age of instant gratification, constantly obsessing about once again opening a niche video emporium; his dream one step closer to corporeal reality as he has secured a mysterious high-paying customer for his rare, mint-condition VHS copy of maestro Lucio Fulci's legendary video nasty 'Zombie'. The strangely charming 'Videoman' is an engaging, appealingly retro-flavoured, darkly tinged, character-based drama about the murkier side of life-consuming collector-mania, metropolitan loneliness, boozy existential despair, all blissfully bathed in the neon-hazed hue of lovingly synthesized 80s nostalgia!

The fitfully likeable, irksomely opinionated Ennio's maddeningly circuitous path to desperately locate a valuable missing tape, finally get free of debt, and find love is rarely less than compelling cinema. Ennio's stultifying insular, basement-dwelling inertia is considerably brightened by the arrival of 80s music fan, Egypt-loving dipso Simone Karlsson (Lena Nilsson). And the film's elusive nemesis 'Faceless' makes for an eerie peripheral presence, and the Giallo pastiche is amusingly staged, and the slew of euro-cult references are a delight, especially edifying is the lurid discussion over Rosalba Neri's 'body part' double in Fernando Di Leo's gruesome Giallo 'Slaughter Hotel'. An additional B-Movie bonus is the spot the-cult-movie game director Kristian A. Söderström clearly wants us to play, as 'Videoman' features 'Eye-Patching' excerpts from Bo Arne Vibenius's iconic 'Thriller: A cruel picture', and his lesser-known grindhouse classic 'Breaking Point', with a splendidly grisly 'insert' from Carlo Vanzina's cult 80s slasher 'Nothing Underneath'. Metalheads might also appreciate the brief cameo by writer/musician Daniel Ekeroth as fellow video collector Jonas 'Franco' Karlsson. 'Videoman' is a delightfully vivid, deliciously downbeat drama that is well worth 'tracking' down!'

After I finished the exciting novel named 'sterven met tussenpozen' by our flemish writer Filip Keyaert about a video shop owner during the 80's, his daily life behind the counter, the all round customers, one close buddy and a loving wife at home, I wanted to track down 'videoman'. Finally watched it and I can only say it's a sublime little movie. Very well made with great actors and recommended to all video lovers back in time !

I can understand how people can enjoy the references to other films and the general overall nostalgia of this film but, to be perfectly honest about it, it needs more than just milking the nostalgia of its audience to keep them engaged.

The film is very slow and boring, I only made it to about half way through before I gave up and turned it off. I'm not a guy who does this usually, I'll sit through a film I'm not enjoying simply because I want a complete picture of the film before I write anything. I'm also fine with "slow burn" movies, if the plot is and characters are engaging, I can sit happily taking it all in. But I simply lost patience with it.

This film may well appeal to others, but it just wasn't for me.