Slim Susie

This film has a nervous energy that springs from the opening moment and doesn't stop until somewhere in the last third. Dazzling narrative technique, nearly always confusing you at the start of a scene, but somehow moving the story forward at the same time. The characters in the small village are wonderfully flexible - it's almost as if they change as the film's frenetic comedy and absurd plot demand. There is a sombre undertone as well, and it's that that makes some of the moments of resolution in the film somewhat awkward, as if the seriousness were being shoehorned into a farce. This will either infuriate or drive you into gales of exhausting laughter.

One of very few Swedish comedies that I really enjoyed. Instead of (like most Swedish comedies) putting someone through purely embarrassing moments and believing that everyone finds that funny, this movie relies on surprising twists and turns and a witty funny dialogue. In addition a mystery is resolved. Erik returns home when he finds out that his sister Sussie is missing. In his search for her more and more childhood friends get involved in this story. As we get to see the end first, the story then jumps back and forth in time to slowly resolve the plot. This enables the movie to take very surprising and funny twists.

As mentioned, a great dialogue, extra credit to whoever wrote that and to whoever created the different characters. Good acting, funny plot. Doesn't get very much better.

8/10

In the cinema world, there aren't many more irritating things than a film pretending to be bursting with energy. Why am I saying this here, you ask. Well, I answer, halfway through one (read: me) grows a bit numb of all this trickery. And before you draw any faulty conclusions: I like this film.

On the bright side, the look is a breath of fresh air for a Nordic film. Kjell Bergqvist is good, and expectedly so, I gather from his history. The humour works often, the deadpan parts especially. ("The ending of Pulp..." Clever in an incidental way, and in an intentional one too, I presume. Funny in any case.)

But there are the flashback-often-within-flashback structure, characters that are, like, so cuhrayzeee (including the "film buff" of whom I shan't say a word though was going to), the would-be edgy restlessness and in-your-face movie references that are bound to annoy some and be of excellence to some. It almost ceases to interest "one" during the final half, or, in other words already said, me grows a bit numb of it.

Those who think "Chain of Fools" is brilliant (and golly, there are those) will probably find this very appealing. Nevertheless (notice the tone), this works quite sufficiently, and any non-realistic Nordic film is of course always welcome. And just to clarify things: I like this.

There have for the last decade been quite a lot of Swedish films about the Swedish world outside Stockholm. The stockholmers have had a lot to laugh about. Little is known here about how the smalltown Swedish inhabitants take that.

But "Smala Sussie" ("Slim Sussie" in English) is funny in more ways than being a hillbilly comedy. The acting by young Björn Starrin, Jonas Rimeika and Tuva Novotny is great. There might be a place for a discussion whether murder and using drugs really is a funny subject. Here it is so however, although everything is far from the Tarantino treatment.

But you have to be Swedish to appreciate this. Or maybe Scandinavian.

Alienation from close people, frequent search for something big and different, worship of money, and downgrade of townships are common issues in everyday life in the Western world. Slim Susie shows those and similar topics via "fun-house mirror" and odd personalities capable of commit felonies, if necessary. Village and small town types are often funny for outsiders as their world of thinking is totally different plus they often stick to their "pleasant" past. The director and co-writer Ulf Malmros has depicted the phenomena in a skillful manner, and his selection of character actors (e.g. Tuva Novotny, Lotta Tejle, Michael Nyqvist, Lena Dahlman) provides the film with additional value. Perhaps the course of action is not always smooth and some scenes seem arid, but the overall script is wittily constructed - with some patterns from independent British and US films.

The film is definitely for you if you like crazy crime comedies with stylish types and background.