Gösta Ekman, Jr. Movies

This Swedish satire/fantasy presciently lampoons the high-minded scheme of a multinational conglomerate to transform a large section of Sweden into a nature preserve and vacation resort, long before such issues arose in the development of Disney World/Paris. The corporation intends to transform a region of Sweden into "Angel Territory." The locals look favorably on the idea until they begin to consider who would benefit from this change. As that would only be those who are the already wealthy land and business owners, they come to oppose the scheme. The mystical beasts of Sweden, including giants, enlist on the side of these people, and battle the corporation, the rich of the region, and dragons. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In this odd feature, played completely straight, a long-married middle-aged couple quietly arrange the apparent end of their relationship. The wife ties up her unresisting husband and feeds him poison, saying she's done with him. Then she leaves. It turns out that he hadn't taken the poison after all, he only pretended to. And he easily escapes his bonds. Then he calls up a friend, who comes over to commiserate with him. In order for the husband to explain exactly what happened, he needs for his friend to put on the absent wife's underwear, which he does. They do some role-playing. The friend isn't able to get into the feminine role very effectively, so the husband puts on female underwear too, and shows him how to do it. Then the seemingly murderous wife comes back with a man she has picked up, comes into the bedroom (to check on her husband's body?) and finds him and the friend alive, in her underwear, and as chipper as they can be. The new lover soon enters the room, and, to the wife's infinite disgust, is easily persuaded to don feminine underwear and join into the role-playing session underway. He is a psychiatrist. Maybe that explains it. The wife, disgusted, leaves again, perhaps for good. Meanwhile, the role-playing men consider the husband and wife relationship at some length and with startling insight. ~ Clarke Fountain, 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

In this comedic children's film, a little girl is left under the care of a chemistry student researcher while her father tries to escape from two gangsters (who occasion several laughs). The young chemistry student is not only "saddled" with the girl, but with homework for a crazy professor, and with problems when the gangsters decide the next best thing to do is to kidnap the little girl. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Consumed by sexual passion, David Jernberg pursues his relationship with Eva despite the fact that this marginally attractive woman is having a destructive effect on his life and everything he values. David, a scientist with a wife and a middle-class life, is a mature man who is just beginning to face the issues of aging. Eva is hostile to everything he represents, except when she is in the middle of the act of love: there, her abandonment in the moment is capable of exerting a hypnotic effect on him. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

When Gary (Goesta Ekman), a somewhat staid and stable architect, and Lasse (Janne Carlsson), a good-time mechanic, end up becoming friends just at the time both of their wives have left town for a week, they each have their idyllic time-off disrupted. Gary wants a bit of introspective relaxation, and Lasse wants some time with his buddies and a few women on the side. Instead, the architect heads into some wild antics (in one scene a bank robber gets the muzzle of his gun stuck in Gary's pocket) that leave him exhausted but happy, and the mechanic ends up giving a lecture on urban planning. Considering that the architect helps Lasse realize how much he appreciates his own home and children, and that Lasse helps him realize that a little fun goes a long way, the week was pretty good after all. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

The police are characteristically clumsy and the trio of thieves at the heart of this farce are at least partially inept, the comedy somehow falls between the cracks. Sickan Jonsson (Gosta Ekman Jr.) is the head of the trio of thieves, Ragnar (Ulf Brunnberg) and Dynamite Harry (Bjorn Gustafson) bring up the rear. Even though the three of them are probably worse off than Jonsson alone, they still take on a scam that involves a business magnate and his plan to sell a top-of-the-line piece of electronics to Russia. The Jonsson League is clearly out of their league on that one, and in several other schemes they devise to make a quick "kronor". ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

In this detective mystery based on the novel Kronvittnet or Experiment in Murder by Maarten Hart, a respected scientist is suspected of murder when a young woman who has recently visited his laboratory is discovered to be missing. Police detective Lambert (Gosta Ekman) investigates the case, and finds plenty of evidence of the visit, but no body. He also finds clues that lead him to suspect that the scientist's laboratory is a front for a drug ring's manufacturing plant. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

This is the fourth in a series of films based on the police detective novels of Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo. In this story, the police only have one witness to a series of crimes which have electrified the country, the rape and murder of a number of beautiful young women. Unfortunately, the witness is not terribly willing to come forward to assist the police since he is wanted in conjuction with the violent robberies he has committed. The police are assisted in their investigations by a beautiful psychologist (Magdalena Ritter), who helps them get a bead on both perpetrators. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

This light farce chronicles the eventual emancipation of rebellious "Mama's boy" Claes-Henrik (Gosta Ekman), who falls into more than one funny mishap before the apron strings are cut. Prone to practical jokes and intent on making a living as a con artist, Claes-Henrik, who goes by the nickname of "Double H" hits upon a chance to make some easy cash. A porno film producer wants to use his mother's apartment for three days of shooting and will generously pay for its rental. Double H cons Mama (Margaretha Krook) into taking a vacation to visit some relatives, but when they get to the train, a hilarious sequence of misunderstandings leaves Mama at the station in her nightie. Double H ends up in the sleeper compartment without a ticket but with a happy female companion in the upper berth and a bottle of Irish whiskey. Emancipation has to begin somewhere. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Writer-director-actor Peter Dalle is the talent behind this satire on relationships, reuniting several cast members of the TV series Lorry. A childless couple, Marie (Lena Endre) and David (Dalle), have lived together for years, despite their many disagreements. They argue often, but their friends, Sara (Suzanne Reuter) and Samuel (Johan Ulvesson) always manage to evade quarrels. Disaster can only be the outcome when the two couples celebrate Christmas together at a snow-covered cottage. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide