Shanti Roney Movies
- 2007
In this comedy, Sebastian (Oliver Moller Knauer) is a handsome but shy young man living in a small town in Denmark who is cursed with a stutter. Sebastian is in love with a beautiful girl, Claudia (Helene Reingaard Neumann), who has agreed to marry him. However, Claudia isn't Sebastian's first love, and a chance meeting with his old girlfriend Maria (Ronja Mannov Olesen) leads to him being unfaithful to his fiancée for the first time. Sebastian could use some advice from a male role model, but the town is abuzz because Karl Kristian Schmidt (Thomas Bo Larsen), a internationally famous opera singer who is the village's most famous son, is coming home for a visit and no one has time to talk to him. Sebastian decides to ask his mother what to do and she makes a surprising confession -- while she's always told Sebastian his dad was killed in a train accident not long before he was born, the truth is Schmidt fathered him during a brief fling before he left town to seek his fortune. Now Sebastian is determined to meet the great singer during his brief visit, and it turns out Schmidt has plenty of advice for his long-lost son. En Mand Kommer Hjem (aka When A Man Comes Home) received its American premiere at the 2009 Palm Springs International Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Oliver Møller Knauer, Thomas Bo Larsen, (more)
- 2002
"You can never leave your past behind you" is the theme of Dragonflies, a Norwegian-Swedish co-produced psychodrama. Eddie and Maria are a pair of lovers looking to start their lives anew after serving time in prison. Despite the difficulties ahead of them, they're managing well until the arrival of Kullman, Eddie's former cohort and cellmate. An aggressive personality, Kullman moves in all his belongings and declares he's there to stay. And while he claims he's out to reform himself, he drops hints that a crime is brewing at the back of his mind, with a role reserved for his old pal Eddie. Often intense, the film showcases the talents of two rising stars, director Marius Holst and actor Marie Bonnevie. ~ Connor McMadden, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maria Bonnevie, Kim Bodnia, (more)
- 2001
Veteran Swedish director Jan Troell returned to fiction features after several years directing documentaries with this drama, based on a true story about a pioneering female aviator. Elsa Andersson (Amanda Ooms) was born near the dawn of the 20th century and raised by her father Sven (Bjorn Granath), a successful farmer, after her mother passed on at an early age. Elsa is brought up to believe it is her lot in life to marry another local farmer and raise a family, but as a teenager she becomes fascinated with airplanes, and at 21 she defies her family and enrolls in a school for pilots. While a student, Elsa meets fellow aspiring aviator Erik (Bjorn Kjellman) and they soon fall in love. But Erik dies in a plane crash not long after Elsa discovers she is pregnant with his child; Elsa is crushed, but forces herself to complete her pilot's training. After earning her licensee, Elsa develops an interest in parachuting; she also finds herself taking comfort in the arms of another woman. Jan Troell served as cameraman on Sa Vit Som En Sno, as well as directing and collaborating on the screenplay. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Amanda Ooms, Rikard Wolff, (more)
- 2001
Babies are supposed to bring families together, but the lack of one is doing just the opposite for one hapless couple in this domestic comedy from Sweden. Johan (Jonas Karlsson) is a twenty-something with no particular ambitions in life who is living with his wife Karin (Johanna Sallsstrom) on a farm run by his father Henrik (Ralph Carlsson). Henrik wants Johan to take over the farm some day, but while he's willing to work there until something better happens along, he's not sure he wants to make it his life's work. But John's problems with Henrik are small potatoes compared to his troubles with Karin; the couple has decided they want to have a child, but Karin has been unable to conceive, and as they try one medical treatment after another in hopes of putting Karin on the nest, their marriage starts to fray at the edges. Most of the cast and production staff on Hans och Hennes also worked on the popular Swedish television series The Confession. While the film's English title is Making Babies, the film's original title literally translates as His and Hers. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jonas Karlsson, Johanna Sallstrom, (more)
- 2000
Swedish director Richard Hobert rounds out his series on the seven deadly sins by inviting most of the main characters from his previous films for a big ol' birthday party. Amid the streamers, party favors, and animal balloons, failed rock star and circus performer Mikael (Goran Stangertz) celebrates his 50th birthday with his longtime girlfriend Calli (Camilla Lunden) and their two kids. Mikeal finally sums up the gumption to ask for Calli's hand in marriage. Unfortunately, she is falling in love with some one else. Meanwhile, Ingrid (Lena Endre) from Run for Your Life returns from a charity gig in Africa, half-blinded by a mosquito bite, while Erik (Jakob Eklund), from the same flick, is looking for his kids. A former divorce victim in Where the Rainbow Ends, Tove (Pernilla August) is now a successful businesswoman, while Ralf, of The Hands fame, remains a drunken scumbag. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Börje Ahlstedt, Pernilla August, (more)
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
- Starring:
- Lisa Lindgren, Michael Nyqvist, (more)
- 1999
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, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Björn Kjellman, Peter Haber, (more)
