Christian Fiedler Movies

Police officers in a rural Swedish community are forced to come up with creative and slightly unlawful tactics in order to preserve their jobs in Kopps, the second film directed by Swedish filmmaker Josef Fares. The good citizens of Hogbodorna, Sweden, are just that -- good citizens -- and thus leave the town's law enforcement officials with little more to do than frequent cafés and drink copious amounts of coffee. After financial and criminal assessments by regional political leaders lead to the decision to close the station and lay off its employees, officers Jacob (Fares Fares, brother to director Josef) and Lasse (Göran Ragnerstam) decide to manufacture a little mischief to prove to the politicians the necessity of maintaining the force. Beginning by attempting to convince the town drunk to become a thief, Jacob and Lasse quickly get lost in their scheme as their activities escalate toward more menacing and destructive criminal acts. Meanwhile, Officer Benny (Torkel Petersson) -- who doesn't know of his co-workers' plans and fancies himself to be a maverick cop with a bit of a violent streak -- begins to suspect some sort of organized crime syndicate must be gaining a foothold in his town and sets out to apprehend or destroy the perpetrators, leading to a wildly hilarious and nearly devastating showdown. Shortly after Kopps' release in 2003, Adam Sandler and Columbia Pictures announced their plans to remake the comedy into an English-language release. ~ Ryan Shriver, All Movie Guide

This uneven comedy is set in the 1920s and stars Janne Carlsson, one of Sweden's favorite comics, in the role of Albert Jansson, a fisherman who turns from fish to foul in order to make a better living. In a near-parody of its cinematic predecessors, Smugglarkungen is also set in a bucolic coastal community where love and the forces of virtue face heavy-duty challenges. Albert is an honest fisherman until he succeeds with a vengeance at bootlegging and cannot but enjoy the happy consequences of his success: namely, the physical attractions of the fair Sickan (Nina Gunke) and equally appealing Grethe (Sanne Salomonsen, one of Denmark's more popular rock stars). Albert's love-life is rudely interrupted when the "smuggling king" Strauss (Ernst Gunther) and his minions resent his intrusion on their lucrative turf, and to make matters worse, Lt. Winkel (Bjorn Skifs) is sent from Stockholm to investigate possible customs violations in the area. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide