Sten Ljunggren Movies

A man finds the road back to happiness is long and difficult after losing his wife and child in this drama from Sweden. Lasse (Michael Nyqvist) is a contented man with a loving wife and two healthy children until an auto accident claims the lives of his spouse and his youngest son. The death takes a terrible toll on Lasse, and while his teenage son Jonas (Anastasios Soulis) tries to help him get through the days, much of the time he'd prefer to stay in bed rather than face the world, and eventually he attempts suicide. Jonas's grandparents (Sten Ljunggren and Anita Wall) are uncertain about Lasse's ability to look after his son, and look into taking custody of Jonas; Lasse, however, wants another chance to reconnect with Jonas and reality, and they travel to Gothenburg to spend a few weeks at the family's seaside vacation house. Lasse emotionally connects with Simon (Philip Zanden) and Lotta (Catherine Hansson), a couple next door who help him sort out his feelings of loss and grief, and Jonas enjoys a youthful romance with beautiful Helena (Moa Gammel). However, when the grandparents pay a visit to celebrate midsummer, Lasse goes on a drunken bender and they become convinced he's beyond help. Underbara Alskade (aka Suddenly) was the first feature film from writer and director Johan Brisinger. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The second feature from Lukas Moodysson, who directed the internationally acclaimed Fucking Åmål, Tillsammans is the tale of life on a Stockholm commune in the mid-'70s. After suffering more than her share of abuse from her husband, Rolf (Michael Nyqvist), Elisabeth (Lisa Lindgren) takes her two children, Stefan (Sam Kessel) and Eva (Emma Samuelsson), to a commune run by her brother Göran (Gustav Hammarsten). Life at the commune is crowded with people with laid-back attitudes towards sex, nudity, and recreational drug use, prompting plenty of political debate. Göran's partner, Lena (Anja Lundkvist), is a particular proponent of free-spirited bed-hopping, something Göran doesn't really like but tolerates. Lena duly gets involved with the rebellious Erik (Olle Sarri) and finds fulfillment in the form of her first orgasm, something that leads her to confess to Göran that she was always faking it with him. Meanwhile, various dramas are at work amongst the other commune members, including the once-married Lasse (Ola Norell) and Anna (Jessica Liedberg) (who split up when Anna announced she was a lesbian) and Klas (Shanti Roney), whose advances to Lasse are continually rebuffed. The goings-on of the commune are observed and commented on by a pair of neighbors, Margit (Therese Brunnander) and Ragner (Claes Hartelius), whose marriage is so lackluster that Ragner masturbates compulsively. Their son, the fat and miserable Fredrik (Henrik Lundström), befriends Elisabeth's daughter, Eva, who longs to have a family again. When Rolf appears on the scene seeking reconciliation, it seems Eva may get her wish. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide

A diamond heist sets the stage for sight gags and improbable events in this crime farce. Johannes (Sven Wollter) disguises himself in the holy robes of a cardinal to escape the wrath of a mob kingpin. Others in the gang dress up as a priest, a nun, a monk, and a corpse. The monk gets drunk in a local bar, the cardinal puts the moves on the nun, and the corpse (Asko Sarkola) jumps up and runs away while on public display. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

In this tour-de-force, an amusing and successful low-budget crime-comedy, Tobbe (Gosta Ekman) gains consciousness in his bed one morning with a world-class hangover, and groaning, realizes that there is a woman sleeping next to him. In pops Bertil (Sten Ljunggren), who was also at the party but is much less the worse for the wear-and-tear of the evening's celebrations. Bertil is a doctor, and when he notices the woman he checks her inert form out and quickly discovers that she is not sleeping, she is dead. Now the two buddies have a serious problem on their hands, and as they exchange lies about what their relationships to the dead woman really were, the lies start slipping and sliding until the truth comes out -- and the two men have to figure out how to dispense of the corpse. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This is a visually opulent story -- geared to a young adult level -- of King Charles the XII of Sweden and how he once tried for five years (1709-1714) to convince the Turks to help him conquer Czar Peter the Great of Russia -- and failed. According to this filmed version of history, seen through the eyes of a Swedish lieutenant, the Turks were equally willing to join with the Russians, or just send Charles back to Sweden. The line between tragedy and farce blurs as the king and his lieutenant try to find a way out of their predicament. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide