there's a bunch of classic Swedish cinema on netflix

There's no Swedish cinema thread, and the regular netflix thread ain't the best place to discuss this, so:

The Swedish Film Foundation seems to have cut some sort of deal with Netflix that means that dozens and dozens of films from the country are available to stream, from early silent cinema right up to stuff rom the 80's. Now, I know very little about that country's film culture outside of, like, Bergman, and have been clicking on random titles to discover things. I encourage you to do the same!

Guest House Paradise - 30's comedy which internet research reveals both outraged the Swedish intellgensia for its lowbrow stylings and started a whole genre of "Pilsner" films a "Swedish genre of farcical comedy from the 1930s, largely focusing on the intake of hard liquor and beer". It is very much a 30's comedy, with slapstick, mistaken identities and, alas, blackface and anti-semitism. The Swedishness manifests in it being considerably racier than you'd see in a UK or US film of the same era. It's really no big shakes but interesting enough.

Karin Mansdotter and Only A Mother - Literary adaptations by a major auteur. The first one adapts Strindberg, within a three act structure tackling a Swedish historical figure, a woman who managed to ascend to the court from humble beginings. First a silent colour prologue that feels like Jacques Demy avant la lettre, then the Strindberg adaptation, then an original ending that is very bleak. Only A Mother details the life of a woman who was part of a sort of indentured servant class. Both very impressive works with strong directorial choices.

While The Door Was Locked, The Heist, The White Cat, Jazz Boy - My first proper rabbit hole in this project, the works of Hasse Ekman. A dandy, actor and theatre director, this guy made some impressive Swedish noirs: While The Door Was Locked is a melancholic work about what goes on in a Stockholm building during one night; The White Cat is a twisted tale of amnesia with some wicked dream sequences; The Heist is a bit more by the numbers, kinda low budget crime thriller, not a world away from, say, Hell Is A City. Jazz Boy shows a completley different side of the man: an Eastmancolour biopic of a major Swedish showbiz entrepeneur, featuring crazy colourful musical numbers that wouldn't put MGM to shame - probably as whitewashed as a MGM biopic too, but hey. Interesting to see the focus on a Swedish music hall star who did explicit anti-Hitler songs.

The Apple War - A German businessman tries to establish a "Deutschneyland" in a far off Swedish territory. The eccentric protagonist's attempts to fight this gentrification originally take the form of Marx Brothers/Looney Tunes hijinks but get a progressively more pagan edge as the film goes on. Max von Sydow has a small role as one of three dumb brothers. From 1971, the most recent thing I've seen. I have zero context, and kinda assume it must be a sketch comedy troupe doing a film? It all felt very "sketches thrown into a film". But also a pretty stunningly ambitious folk horror comedy. Highly recommended.

Great thread idea, thanks. I remember you mentioning this before, but I am sure it's buried somewhere in another thread.

Hmm. Not sure this works in the US.

Ah sorry, it may be Europe only - I know it works in the UK and Portugal.

Although I can't imagine there's a lot of competition in the US for the rights to e.g. Guest House Paradise or Karin Mansdotter.

This is great, thanks for the heads up, Daniel.

Wish there was an easier way to search for this stuff.

There are quite a few Swedish 80s/90s comedy dramas on Netflix that you might struggle to call classic cinema but are an interesting insight into popular culture. For example, you've got the whole Sällskapsresan series, directed, written, and starring Lasse Åberg, who is a big figure in Sweden but not particularly well known ouside. The films are goofy, silly, and kind of sweet. I also recently enjoyed Blackjack, which is another somewhat slight comedy drama, but it's set in the dansband scene in Gävle (home of the goat), and there's an interesting darkness in it sort of fundamental to that culture.

Netflix search facility is beyond awful. Used to used some external thing to search, don’t remember which one, wonder if that even works anymore.