Joakim Hansson Movies

As a police procedural from Sweden, Johan Falk - Gruppen för särskilda insatser continues the saga of officer Falk (Jakob Eklund) and his attempts to thwart various European criminals. In this installment, Johan works in tandem with the GSI organized crime unit to bring in a cadre of armored car robbers. Marie Richardson and Jacqueline Ramel co-star. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

Three stories of people whose lives have been thrown into chaos come together in this drama from Swedish filmmaker Anders Nilsson. Nina (Bahar Pars) is a teenage girl whose family has recently settled in Sweden from overseas. Nina and her younger sister Layla (Oldoz Javidi) are suddenly at odds with their parents when Nina is accused of becoming too familiar with the boys at her school by chatting with them. When Nina tries to run away from home, it leads to a confrontation with their extended family. Elsewhere, Carina (Lia Boysen) is a respected broadcast journalist who has been hiding a shameful secret - her husband Hakan (Peter Engman) has a violent streak and often beats her. One day, Carina decides she's had enough and files assault charges against Hakan. Carina's sister (Annika Hallin) remains supportive through this difficult time, and to her surprise Hakan's mother (Bibi Andersson) comes to her aid, but Carina soon finds her colleagues are turning their back on her. And finally, Aram (Reuben Sallmander) runs a nightspot where three angry customers who've had a run-in with doorman Peter (Per Graffman) return with guns and open fire on the club. Aram offers to cooperate with police in order to put the gunmen behind bars, but he learns the shooters will go to great lengths to keep Aram quiet. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Written and directed by Anders Nilsson, Den Tredje Vagen is the Swedish filmmaker's third and final film in his trilogy centering on tough cop Johan Falk (Jakob Eklund). This time around, Falk has decided to seek out a more peaceful life. He's left the police department and intends to move away from the city. Things don't go quite as planned, however, and Falk once again finds himself embroiled in a fast-paced, bullet-riddled adventure. Released as The Third Wave in English-speaking markets, Den Tredje Vagen was preceded by 2001's Livvakterna and 1999's Noll Tolerans. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi

Released stateside as The Invisible, directors Joel Bergvall and Simon Sandquist's film weaves a dark tale of the supernatural concerning a high school student's spiritual limbo as he hovers between life and death. Though he's a bright young student with a promising future, Nicklas (Gustaf Skarsgård) sometimes feels invisible due to the stratospherically high expectations of his demanding mother. Brutally beaten on his way to school one morning following a minor misunderstanding, Nicklas arrives at school the following day only to find that he has literally become invisible. As police begin their investigation into his murder, the frightened Nicklas can do little but observe. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A family torn apart by violence is thrown into an even greater crisis when one member retaliates in this emotional drama. Kent (Michael Nyqvist) is a cowardly, foul-tempered man who often beats his wife Sara (Kristina Tornqvist) and inflicts both physical and emotional brutality on his son Stefan (Anastasios Soulis). One day, Sara finds Kent lying on the couch unconscious, his head trapped in a plastic bag. At first, Sara thinks her husband committed suicide, until Stefan confesses he could take no more of Kent's punishment and used the bag to kill his father. In a panic, Sara and Stefan take Kent out to the country and dump him in a wooded clearing. However, Sara soon receives a call from the police -- it seems Kent was comatose but not dead, and while he's lost the use of the lower half of his body, he will survive. Now confined to a wheelchair, Kent returns home, with Sara and Stefan nervous and unsure if he remembers the particulars about the incident that crippled him. As they try to determine what he does and doesn't know, they're filled with pity, fear, and anger as his violent nature begins to manifest itself once again. Hem Ljuva Hem was the first directorial effort from Dan Ying, who previously distinguished himself as a film editor and stunt coordinator. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

A frustrated thespian tries to bring the joys of the theater to a group of convicts in this Swedish comedy. Reine (played by Bjorn Kjellman) is an out-of-work actor in dire need of a job; as a last resort, he takes a position at a high-security prison. He discovers the prison has a room that is set up like a theater, prompting a brainstorm -- he can organize a prison theatrical troupe. A handful of inmates volunteers, though their interest has less to do with a love of drama and more to do with the possible opportunity to escape. But the drama club becomes just popular enough that Ekman (Thomas Hanzon), a long-term inmate who is the unofficial leader of the criminal population behind bars, feels his "authority" is being challenged, and he's not shy about using violence to restore the proper balance of power. Based in part on a true story, Vagen Ut (aka Breaking Out) was the debut feature from TV director Daniel Lind Lagerlof; it was shown to critical and public acclaim at the 1999 Gothenburg Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Taut, moody and intensely violent (by Swedish standards) this action-packed Swedish thriller was filmed in a snowy northern village and centers on a cop's attempts to stop the slaughter of Laplanders' reindeer by greedy locals. Erik is that policeman. After working many years for the Stockholm police, he returns to his home village to live with his younger brother Leif and work in the local police department. Erik is angered to hear that the Laplander reindeer are being killed by a gang and that the town cops are ignoring the problem. He decides to single-handedly bring the killers to justice. Things get complicated when he learns that Leif is their ring leader. As Erik works to stop them, real violence erupts in the village until the exciting climax when Erik and Leif engage in a final face-off. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi