Göran Lindström Movies

Finnish writer/director Arto Koskinen makes his feature film debut with the childhood drama Kahlekuningas (The Handcuff King). Set in the mid-'70s on the border between Sweden and Finland, the story opens in winter as 12-year-old Finnish boy Esko (Miikka Enbuske) is about to attempt a Houdini-like magic trick. Flashbacks show events of the previous summer when he was an outcast from his friends and ended up spending time with a Swedish boy named Patrick (Emil Lundberg) who was obsessed with Houdini. Despite some resentment from parents and other kids, the boys share adventures and protect each other from bullies. Back at home, Esko's parents are splitting up and his grandfather is traumatized from the war. The Handcuff King made its U.S. premiere at the 2003 Seattle International Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

The sixth in a projected series of seven, Richard Hobert directs this Swedish rock musical about the seven deadly sins. In a desperate attempt at forestalling financial oblivion, Mikael (Goran Stangertz) attempts to stage his semi-autobiographical rock opera in a circus tent in the coastal city of Malmo. His wife Catti (Camilla Lundin) is forced to close her store, and the two move into a trailer park. There they meet Tove (Pernilla August), a victim of a rather ugly divorce, and she and Catti soon become fast friends. Along the way, she also meets Mikael's former friend Rajje (Rolf Lassgard), who offers to front her some money in return for other services. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

This fourth feature in Richard Hobert's "Seven Deadly Sins" series was filmed on location in southern Sweden. It follows the couple Catti (Camilla Lunden) and Mick (Goran Stangertz) seen in a previous, "Seven Deadly Sins" film (Autumn in Paradise). On Christmas, Catti has just given birth to her first child. In the same hospital room is Maria (Indra Roga). When police enter and arrest Erik (Jakob Eklund), the nurse Ingrid (Lena Endre) helps Maria escape. Seeing that Maria left her baby behind, Catti ignores Mick's objections and takes the child home with her. Contacted by Ingrid, Mick and Catti learn that Erik and Ingrid belong to an underground movement helping refugees sought by the authorities. Soon police seek Mick and Catti, forcing them to become fugitives. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

This horror feature send-up concerns an actor/director (Etienne Glaser) trying to talk his two female employers into letting his crew shoot a film about real people. The crew plays practical jokes that involve severed limbs and lots of blood in this tongue-in-cheek look at the horror film-factory that exposes the colorful carnage. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

In this political thriller, the disappearance in Argentina of a girl with dual Swedish/Argentine nationality is explored. The girl's probable extra-judicial murder by Argentina's military rulership is investigated by a Swedish journalist, whose efforts expose the widespread abduction and murder of supposed opponents of the military regime. As the reporter pursues his leads, he is being actively thwarted by agents of military intelligence, who would have no qualms about murdering his witnesses or even the reporter himself. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

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, All Movie Guide

This uneven comedy is set in the 1920s and stars Janne Carlsson, one of Sweden's favorite comics, in the role of Albert Jansson, a fisherman who turns from fish to foul in order to make a better living. In a near-parody of its cinematic predecessors, Smugglarkungen is also set in a bucolic coastal community where love and the forces of virtue face heavy-duty challenges. Albert is an honest fisherman until he succeeds with a vengeance at bootlegging and cannot but enjoy the happy consequences of his success: namely, the physical attractions of the fair Sickan (Nina Gunke) and equally appealing Grethe (Sanne Salomonsen, one of Denmark's more popular rock stars). Albert's love-life is rudely interrupted when the "smuggling king" Strauss (Ernst Gunther) and his minions resent his intrusion on their lucrative turf, and to make matters worse, Lt. Winkel (Bjorn Skifs) is sent from Stockholm to investigate possible customs violations in the area. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Saudi Arabia has decided to order 1000 yachts from Swedish yacht-builders, the difficulty being how to choose between two competitors and the solution being to set them off in a boat race against each other with the winning team walking away with the lucrative contract. A Saudi prince will be there to watch the eventful race, and tensions are running high. Complications arise from the fact that one of the teams could not build their way out of a paper bag without major mishaps, while the other team is so sophisticated it could fold the same bag up as an origami ship and float it out to sea. Naturally, the good guys tend to be the misfits and the chances for them winning the race seem so dim...... ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide