Mikael Håfström Movies
Swedish filmmaker Mikael Hafstrom directs the coming-of-age drama Ondskan (Evil), based on the autobiographical novel by Jan Guillou. In the mid-'50s, teenager Erik Ponti (Andreas Wilson) suffers serious abuse at the hands of his father (Johan Rabaeus). He translates the violence at home to school, eventually getting himself expelled for fighting. His mother (Marie Richardson) struggles to come up with the money to send him to a private school, where the senior boys brutally haze the juniors in a ritualistic tradition. Erik makes enemies with senior Otto Silverheim (Gustaf Skarsgård), but, fortunately, finds friendship with Pierre (Henrik Lundstrom) and romance with Marja (Linda Zilliacus). Evil was screened at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Andreas Wilson, Henrik Lundström, (more)
- 2003
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
- Starring:
- Fares Fares, Torkel Petersson, (more)
A clandestine love affair may claim a terrible price from two desperate people in this psychological thriller. Charles Schine (Clive Owen) is an advertising executive who is married to Deana (Melissa George) and has a young, diabetic daughter whose third kidney operation just failed. Charles's life turns a most unexpected corner when he meets Lucinda Harris (Jennifer Aniston) on a commuter train. Lucinda, who is also married with a daughter, keeps bumping into Charles on the train, and they strike up a friendship that soon grows into something deeper. Eventually Charles and Lucinda meet for lunch, then dinner, then check into a posh hotel, but the consequences turn out to be greater than they imagined; the dangerous criminal Philippe Laroche (Vincent Cassel) breaks into the couple's hotel room, beats Charles nearly unconscious, and rapes Lucinda. The problem doesn't end there, however; Laroche soon unveils both his certainty that the couple avoided calling the police, and - more troublingly - his possession of Charles's personal information. When he makes the ill-advised attempt to blackmail the couple, Charles turns to a rough-cut friend from his workplace who offers to help out -- for a small commission.Derailed was the first American project for Swedish filmmaker Mikael Håfström. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clive Owen, Jennifer Aniston, (more)
A writer renowned for debunking infamous paranormal events is confronted by a force that he cannot explain upon checking into room 1408 of the notoriously haunted Dolphin Hotel. Mike Enslin (John Cusack) is an author who specializes in horror, but who only believes in what he can see with his eyes and touch with his hands. Having constructed an entire career on his ability to dispel superstitious "haunted house" rumors, Mike is convinced that the afterlife is a manmade construct designed to offer false comfort to the weak minded. Mike's latest project is a book entitled "Ten Nights in Haunted Hotel Rooms," and it seems that in room 1408 of the Dolphin Hotel, this skeptical scribe may finally find proof of the supernatural. Implored by the hotel manager (Samuel L. Jackson) not to enter room 1408, Mike defiantly procures the key and prepares to dispel yet another spectral sham. Now, as is the case with many of life's most profound epiphanies, the writer who thought he knew it all is caught entirely off guard at the precise moment he least expected it. Subsequently faced with undeniable proof of an afterlife, Mike may have a best-seller on his hands if he can simply survive until sunrise. Mary McCormack and Jasmine Jessica Anthony co-star in director Mikael Håfström's (Derailed) adaptation of an original short story by horror icon Stephen King. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Cusack, Samuel L. Jackson, (more)
The Weinstein Company presents this story of an American (John Cusack) in Shanghai who, through the investigation of the death of a friend, ends up falling in love while stumbling upon a political conspiracy in this period drama from 1408 helmer Mikael Håfström. Gong Li and Ken Watanabe co-star in the production, from a script supplied by Hossein Amini. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Cusack, Gong Li, (more)
