Reine Brynolfsson Movies

A boy who spends his days playing with toy soldiers grows up to photograph real ones in action in this short comedy-drama from news photographer turned filmmaker Jens Assur. As a child, David was captivated by images of war, and could spend hours playing with models of tanks and aircraft that he'd built, or fighting pretend battles with his friends. In 1994, at the age of 24, David is no less obsessed with war, and has learned to make a living from his preoccupation by working as a photojournalist. David is sent to Rwanda with Mats, a reporter, to cover the bloody civil conflict between the Hutus and the Tutsis, and together the men find themselves both engrossed by the drama unfolding around them and appalled by the human toll this particular conflict has taken upon the people of Rwanda. Den Sista Hunden I Rwanda (aka The Last Dog In Rwanda was screened as part of the short film series as the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Director Bent Hamer's comedy drama Salmer Fra Kjøkkenet (Kitchen Stories) is based on the real-life social experiments conducted in Sweden during the 1950s. In the years following WWII, a research institute sets out to modernize the home kitchen by observing a handful of rural Norwegian bachelors. In the small town of Landstad, middle-aged Isak (Joachim Calmeyer) is one such research subject who regrets ever agreeing to participate in the study. Nevertheless, he is observed by Folke (Tomas Norström), and the two develop a strange friendship until the observer becomes sick. This causes a problem with Folke's boss (Reine Brynolfsson) and Isak's friend Grant (Bjørn Floberg). ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

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, Rovi

Gudny Halldorsdottir directs this slow, nuanced family drama about gnawing jealousy and destructive sibling rivalry. Rannveig (Ragnhildur Gisladottir) and Thurid (Tinna Gunnlaugsdottir) are grown daughters of a wealthy deacon in a remote corner of western Iceland. Thurid endures an unhappy marriage with two children while footloose and fancy-free Rannveig is sent to study in Copenhagen by her parents. While staying with family friends in that great teaming Danish metropolis, Rannveig is seduced by the couple's son Bjorn (Bjorn Floberg). Later it is revealed that Thurid bedded this same Bjorn years previously, and she still holds a torch for him. Upon her return to the windswept wilds of her native land, Rannveig reveals that she is pregnant. Seething with the bilious jealousy, Thurid quietly masterminds a scheme that will save the family's honor. The family announces that Rannveig is engaged to a lovely man in Denmark and schedules a wedding, yet when the alleged groom does not appear on the nuptial date, they tearfully announce that he died. Rannveig eventually gives birth to her love child. Thurid eventually succumbs to her white-hot envy and sells Rannveig's baby to the Danes. Later, their sibling relationship strained some by that kidnapping incident, Thurid shacks up with Bjorn while Rannveig has an illicit affair with a carpenter. This film was based on a novel by Nobel Prize-winning author Halldor Laxness, the father of the director. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

Based on the novel by the pseudonymous "John W. Grow," this drama is the first feature to examine the unsolved murder of Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme, who was shot in February of 1986 as he walked through the center of Stockholm with his wife. Troubled police officer Roger (Mikael Persbrandt) is on the brink of a breakdown, and his pal Bo (Reine Brynolfsson) gets an order to find out the problem. Roger relates how he almost prevented Palme's murder, and the tale then flashes back to the beginnings of the conspiracy and the killer (Michael Kitchen) in Malta. While the novel fingers a leader in the Swedish business community as the manipulator of the murder, the film evades this point. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

When Adam and Eva first meet, it is love at first sight in the grandest Hollywood tradition. Normally such a scene would occur at the end of the film, but in this sparkling look at male and female relationships, it is only the beginning. The story jumps ahead four years. By this time, the two are living together and totally bored. While Eva wants to marry and start a family, Adam dreams of having an affair. He gets his opportunity when a pretty and very young woman sashays into the picture. Adam manages to keep his liaison a secret for a while. When Eva finds out, a terrible scene erupts and she leaves him. Left to himself, Adam is forced to come to grips with what Eva really meant to him. Unfortunately, by the time he figures it out, it is almost too late, for she has found a new love, one who is willing to marry her. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

A group of messianic pilgrims abandon their native Sweden and emigrate to Palestine. This fact-based episodic Swedish drama looks at the events leading up to the trek and the immigrants' experiences after they arrive in the holy land. The story begins in Sweden and is introduced by the death of Big Ingmar, the leader of a small farming community. Shortly thereafter, his eldest daughter Karin sends Ingmar's namesake son to be raised by another family so she can control the family farm. Years pass and Ingmar grows up to fall in love with his beauteous "step-sister" Gertrud. But the romance never fully blooms, for Ingmar must leave to earn the money he needs to buy his father's farm back from Karin. About this time, the local village is plagued by a series of ominous disasters that begin with Karin's sudden paralysis. In the midst of the ensuing superstition and chaos, a charismatic, hellfire-and-brimstone preacher shows up, and some family members begin converting to his cause. Karin becomes a true follower when the preacher prays and she is "miraculously" healed. Ingmar eventually returns to find a very different village. With not enough money to buy the farm, he marries a wealthy young woman. Broken-hearted Gertrud immediately joins the preacher's cult and decides to follow him to Palestine to await Christ's Second Coming. Three months after she leaves, a recently divorced Ingmar arrives in Palestine to try to win her back. That is but one story line among many that transpire as the pilgrims struggle with survival in their strange new homeland. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

This Swedish thriller focuses on a love triangle and insurance fraud. Christer, a cab driver, finds his peaceful life in upheaval after a new couple moves into his small town. The woman is a quadriplegic and despite that, Christer finds himself falling in love with her. A graphic murder ensues and Christer is blamed. But did he do it? ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Tove and Claes Salefalk (Helena Bergstrom and Reine Bynolfsson) and Liselott and Lennart Waltner (Ewa Froling and Peter Andersson) have known one another for years. At one time the two couples were good friends, but they have drifted apart recently. Both couples compete internationally as ballroom dancers, and both are very good, but the Waltners are better. They keep winning competition after competition, leaving the Salefalks in the dust. After a while, Tove just can't bear it, which is why, by the time they gather for the funeral of Claes' mother, they haven't spoken for almost a year. Meeting at the funeral, they attempt to renew their relationship, and take a vacation together in Barbados. However, close proximity only makes the tension worse. Another thing which bugs Tove is that she is sterile and can't have children, while Liselott gets pregnant and has one abortion after another. Things come to a head during a competition at Blackpool, an oceanside resort in northern England. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Inger (Helena Bergström), a single mother, has decided to return to her father's home from her life in Stockholm and sort out her life. Unfortunately, her father has grown restless, too, and is planning to sell the family house and move away, so she cannot stay long. To pass the time, she hangs out at the local dance hall. There, she dangles one man on a leash while she courts the drummer in the dance-hall band (Carl Kjellgren). She thinks that theirs is a romance beyond all others. He thinks of it merely as a pleasant affair. Eventually, she figures that out and moves back to Stockholm, and regrets stringing the second, nicer, man along. There was something epochal in the meeting of these two people however, and the band members recognize that something important has changed. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

A challenging and powerful adaptation of a novel by Torgny Lindgren, this drama objectively examines the quiet courage of impoverished people whose faith in God's word enables them to uncomplainingly endure the gross injustice inherent in their culture. Set in the 19th century in the rugged countryside of northern Sweden, the tale centers on Tea, a young woman who is forced to submit to the sexual desires of her landlord. Her situation is not unusual for the times, and whether or not the woman was married, it was considered a morally acceptable means of paying the rent in accordance with their interpretation of the Bible. If a woman refused to sleep with her landlord, she and her family would be evicted. The tale is told from her perspective. Tea was a young bride the first time her landlord Ole Karlsa came calling, and upon her return home she finds that her husband has hung himself. Over the years, Tea has borne many of Ole Karlsa's children, none of whom he officially claims. Despite her years of sexual service, she remains poverty-bound, but this has neither stolen her pride nor broken her spirit. She staunchly refuses to allow Ole Karlsa to get close to his illegitimate brood. Eventually the landowner dies and soon afterward his son Karl Orsa comes to collect his "rent." In between visits, Tea finds happiness for the first time in years when she becomes lovers with a romantic wanderer. Her joy is short-lived, for the drifter is arrested for stealing. More trouble comes when Karl Orsa decides that Tea is too old and that her oldest daughter, in accordance with the custom, must take her place. He refuses to listen to Tea's pleas that to sleep with her daughter would be incest, and this sets up a series of tragedies, all of which are stoically borne by Tea, her family and Karl Orsa (who is just as much a victim of culture as the rest). ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi