What's my deal with the Swedes lately?

Maybe Sweden is having a Renaissance of sorts. Or it could be that they were always good at film making and I just never noticed. I do have great respect for Ingmar Bergman and Max VonSydow, but I always attributed that to a pair break out geniuses. In the last few months, and without any known intention, I have been watching an awful lot of film and TV that is either Swedish or based on Swedish work and in one case, I watched a Norwegian horror movie about Zombie Nazi.


First off was Let the Right One In, a fantastic Vampire movie about a 12 year old kid who befriends a thousand year old Vampire child. It's based on a book by John Ajvide Lindqvist, and I am tlod it is really good, though I haven't read it. It is on the list, though. This one was remade into an American version, but I haven't seen that yet, either. I already have some problems with it, though. For one thing, a big part of the Swedish version was the the weather, which was treated as almost another character. The story is set in a suburb of Stockholm, I assume because it would be the perfect place for a vampire to hide out. The Sun is hidden half of the year and behind clouds the rest. Everybody is already all pale and beautiful and creepy looking. They set the American version in New Mexico. I'm sure it gets cold in New Mexico, but not that cold, and not for that long. And to my knowledge, the sun still comes up in winter there. Maybe they were trying to steer clear of comparisons to 30 Days of Night, which I guess I can see. But if you want beautiful, creepy pale people in North America, just set the thing in Calgary. Problem solved.



Next was all three of the "Girl" movies(Dragon Tattoo, Played with Fire, Kicked the Hornet's Nest). Or as they call them over there, The Millennium Series. These were I resisted reading these books for a long time, because everybody else was, and my punk-rock sub-conscious told me that anything more than 5 people like has to be crap, so I didn't. The last time I jumped on a bandwagon like that, I ended up giving JK Rowling like a thousand dollars over the course of 10 years and counting. But I suppose I will relent with these books, if only because the movies were so very very good. Packed with style and attitude. They are making an American version of these as well, and I think I should probably knock out the novel before those are released so I can be an even bigger elitist and bitch about them with more gusto.


And Now I'm on Wallender! This is a weird crossroads, actually. In addition to all the Swedish media I've been obsessed with, I've been equally obsessed with British crime dramas. I've always been a big fan of all things British, especially their film and telly, but lately it's taken a more hard-core turn. After the new Sherlock, aired I got all goose-bumpy and re-watched Life on Mars.
Not the American version that not even Harvey Keitel could save.
Not good enough! So I watched the Red Riding Trilogy. Which was awesome, and I totally understand now why they picked Andrew Garfield for Spider man, because that kid is really good. Still not satisfied, I watched the first season of Luther. Also fantastic, and has a lot of Dr. Who cameos, but I suppose that with England having only a finite number of actors, you see the same people over and over if they are any good. Luther is one of those shows that keeps you thinking for a few days.
The thing with Wallender is that it is a re-make of a Swedish crime drama. I came at this one backwards, seeing the English language version first. But thank God the Brits got to this one before the Americans did. They went ahead and set it in Sweden. Where it takes place. Weird, I know. I have great respect for Kenneth Branagh, and I think he does really well when he gets to just act. He's really good in this. and the production does a really good job of pulling off the fact that everybody is in Sweden but speaking English.
I should also mention The Killing here. Though it is Danish and not Swedish, it might be important to note that the Europeans have suddenly become very very good at writing police procedural stories. They write characters that are incredibly real and believable. It is also note worthy that they manage to maintain this level of craftsmanship over several stories and arcs. Americans are having a tough time with this. Too many shows have an awesome first season and just crumble under their own weight after that(Lost? Heroes?). Some manage it just fine, like Mad Men or Breaking Bad, but what does it say when the best dramas on TV are nowhere near the networks? Not that there aren'y some jewels. I dearly love Castle and Lie To ME, but imagine what those shows could be if they didn't have to pull any punches?
They'd be awesome.