Nils Eklund Movies
- 1992
Scripted (but not directed) by Ingmar Bergman, Best Intentions is a multilayered backwards glance at the courtship of Bergman's own parents. Henrik Bergman (Samuel Froler) is a struggling theology student in the year 1909. His intended, Anna Aakerbloom (Pernilla August, who married director Bille August while the film was in progress) is from a well-to-do family. Despite the expected class differences and personality clashes, love-or at least mutual understanding-prevails. But after a harsh, spare few years as the wife of a clergyman, Anna yearns for the more bountiful pleasures of her family home. Bergman writes himself into the proceedings as a mewling infant. The current three-hour theatrical version of Best Intentions (original title: Den Goda Viljan) was simultaneously prepared as a six-hour TV miniseries, which ran in Europe, Scandanavia, and Japan. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Samuel Fröler, Pernilla August, (more)
- 1989
This big-budget animated feature from Sweden, drawing upon some of that country's best known performers, is a children's adventure story with a cautionary ecological theme. The director drew his inspiration from such diverse sources as The Tempest by William Shakespeare, Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe, and Machine Island, by ules Verne. In the story, Prospero has been exiled from his home, and is living on the island of Melonia with his daughter Miranda, an albatross named Ariel, and a fruit-monster called Caliban. Just as Caliban has finished creating something called "power soup" from the emanations of a local volcano, a crew of ne'er do wells crash-lands. They are from Plutonia, a polluted industrial planet given over to entirely to making weaponry, and they have come to steal Caliban's creation. Their plan is to take over the world Melonia is on and make it just as ugly as their own. Prospero and his kin band together to rescue the children on the industrial planet, who have been enslaved to work in the munitions factories, and at the same time put a stop to the evil plans of the Plutonians. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Allan Edwall, Robin Carlson, (more)
- 1986
This well-executed biographical docudrama is a plunge into the madness (and the sanity) of a writer living life on its rawest edges. Agnes Von Krusenstjarna (Stina Ekbland) was a Swedish novelist (1894-1940) whose works ranged from the idyllically romantic to crushingly sardonic, sexually explicit autobiography. Von Krusenstjarna teamed up with the eccentric bisexual David Sprengel (Erland Josephson) and continued to suffer bouts of mental instability that Sprengel felt were best cured by sexual abandon. Von Krusenstjarna was not a model of emotional health when she first met Sprengel. She had inherited madness from her family while at the same time passionately rebelled against the narrow-minded mores of her genteel but poor parents. With his own wildly unorthodox behavior, Sprengel both helped and hindered Von Krusenstjarna throughout their turbulent relationship. Audiences will be enthralled by the clash of Von Krusenstjarna's inner and outer realities, but should be aware there is an abundance of sexually explicit material here. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stina Ekblad, Erland Josephson, (more)
- 1985
Following on the heels of the preceding animated feature, Pelle Svansloes (Peter No-Tail), this moppet adventure film has no real scares for the tots. Peter No-Tail -- his forever embarrassing lack of a tail makes him the butt of jokes, so to speak -- dreams that he is in the Wild West. Just as he is overcoming his enemy Hobo Mans, he wakes up. Peter decides to take a trip into the forest, but unknown to him, Hobo Mans and his catty sidekicks are after him again, and this time it is not a dream. It takes all of Peter's ingenuity with a large measure of blind luck to escape his tormentors -- but then Fate steps in and Peter has a chance to let his good nature save the day. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Erik Lindgren, Ernst-Hugo Järegård, (more)
- 1968
A well respected physician is driven to murder when an elderly husband tries to brutally rape his young wife. Using flashbacks, the evil elder is seen walking in the big city to a modern music score and a life that has passed him by. The story is based on the 1905 novel by author Hjalmar Soederberg but is updated to the time of the release of the film in 1968. The doctor willfully commits the murder, knowing that a third party and not himself will ultimately benefit from the old man's death. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- 1964
A widowed woman undergoes a true sexual awakening in this provocative drama. The change comes after her husband of 10 years suddenly dies. During their marriage she never felt a thing during sex. Then she meets a lively Pole and begins an affair. Suddenly she finds herself feeling a great deal, and happiness ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harriet Andersson
