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March 28, 2024, 12:56:15 PM

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Border (2018)

Started by Puce Moment, March 04, 2019, 02:21:57 PM

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Puce Moment

Anyone seen this odd little nugget yet?

Border is a Swedish film, adapted from John 'Let the Right One In' Lindqvist's short story of the same name. I am loathe to describe it too much as part of the appeal of the film is it's genre defying oddness and disarming tendency to avoid fulfilling your expectations.

I went into it knowing virtually nothing about the story, which was refreshing and rewarding. I will say that it has one of my favourite sex scenes of any film - bearing in mind that I generally hate them (except for films like Don't Look Now and Under the Skin).

Anyone seen it yet? I don't think 2018 was a particularly good year for films, but this was a real treat.


Puce Moment

Thanks! I looked for a dedicated thread but couldn't find one.

gib

It's a weird one because, as everyone has said, you need to go into it knowing nothing. Much as i'd love to chat about it i don't want to ruin it for anyone.

Bence Fekete

Absolutely adored it.  All the plot-spoiling strokes of genius aside, I thought it was incredibly well constructed.  Every scene was economical and tight (even if it doesn't appear that way to begin with). 

At first it seems like one of those films that builds up it's premise to impossible heights.  Weird for weird's sake.  But it answers pretty much everything by the end.  Incredible feat of storytelling.   

zomgmouse

Only big issue I had with it was the camerawork, unnecessarily shaky. But otherwise really impressive, very softly told but with a lot of darkness throughout.

Puce Moment

I adored it a great deal. At first I was uncomfortable with the reveal about Vore being the baby trader because it seemed unnecessarily plot heavy in such a deftly handled film. But I ended up really enjoying its aspirations to cross so many genres and styles.

There is so much to love in this film - not just the most insanely surprising sex scene, but also the fucking unfertilised egg pseudo-baby made of tempur memory foam body horror madness. But really, it is the subtle beauty of the story that makes the film so special, and the time it takes to follow the two characters' relationship.

Glebe

Ahem.

Here's a trailer, btw.

As I posted there, it was weird to see a big-screen adaptation was coming just after re-reading the story... Empire gave it 4/5, there's a little sidebar interview with actress Eva Melander beside the review, apparently she had to put on a load of weight and spend ages in the makeup chair... going by the trailer, they've certainly 'troll'-ed the character up a bit. Anyway, looking forward to seeing it.

Puce Moment

Quote from: Glebe on March 05, 2019, 02:40:11 AM
Ahem.

I do always check first, but I don't usually go as far back as page 7.

QuoteHere's a trailer, btw.
As I posted there, it was weird to see a big-screen adaptation was coming just after re-reading the story... Empire gave it 4/5, there's a little sidebar interview with actress Eva Melander beside the review, apparently she had to put on a load of weight and spend ages in the makeup chair... going by the trailer, they've certainly 'troll'-ed the character up a bit. Anyway, looking forward to seeing it.

It's genuinely great - and Youtube also recommended this- a suitably bizarre recommendation from Aubrey Plaza who put on a screening for her friends.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIIqrA93CW8


Glebe

Quote from: Puce Moment on March 05, 2019, 04:07:15 PMI do always check first, but I don't usually go as far back as page 7.

That's completely unacceptable, PM, and just plain lazy IMHO.

Seriously though, I'm well keen to see it and that.

zomgmouse

Quote from: gib on March 04, 2019, 03:45:24 PM
It's a weird one because, as everyone has said, you need to go into it knowing nothing. Much as i'd love to chat about it i don't want to ruin it for anyone.

Yeah, I've been telling people this as well - look at NOTHING and get as little info as you can! It's definitely hard because the whole troll thing is the biggest part of it but it's best experienced if you don't know it's coming.

rasta-spouse

This was really nice. The relationship initially seemed Wayne & Waynetta comical, but they really took it seriously didn't they?

Also the mythology was haunting in the similar way to Let the Right one in. Guess the novel was good source material.

zomgmouse

Quote from: rasta-spouse on March 07, 2019, 11:56:07 AM
Guess the novel was good source material.

It was actually a short story - and it's interesting to see what they added in to pad the thing out, namely the entire paedophile subplot including the bits involving Vore being a baby smuggler.

Bence Fekete

That is indeed interesting.  Because surely it's that particular piece of the jigsaw that grounds the whole fairytale in our reality so well I thought. 

Peado-cult's are sigh/yawn cliches of horror these days but here it actually made sense to have it all unravelling offscreen in the background.  This tortured, twisted spark between the two worlds.  And it also helps us root for Tina early.  Though I can imagine there are far subtler ways of achieving this in it's story form.   

Actually I think the ending is perfect thinking back now.  I was a little afraid of it at the time because I didn't want it to spoil such a good setup, but those final moments....  Tina seemingly at her peak human and troll. 


It would be interesting to know what her vocal delivery is like in Swedish.  I'm guessing it's quite naturalistic.

Puce Moment

Quote from: zomgmouse on March 08, 2019, 08:44:54 AMIt was actually a short story - and it's interesting to see what they added in to pad the thing out, namely the entire paedophile subplot including the bits involving Vore being a baby smuggler.

I'm just reading this now and I have to say that as much as I love radical and unfaithful adaptations and dislike the quest for fidelity, I do think that the pedo-sub-plot was unnecessary and detracted from the film.

Rev+

I kind of agree, but can see why that strand was there - the story does need something else to strap itself to in order to work as a film.  Could have been a bank robbery, could have been a caper with mixed-up suitcases, but there had to be something.  It works as a device.

zomgmouse

Quote from: Bence Fekete on March 08, 2019, 10:01:38 AM
And it also helps us root for Tina early.  Though I can imagine there are far subtler ways of achieving this in it's story form.   

In the story it just says at the start that she helped solve some cases for the police - nothing to do with Vore, either.

Blinder Data

This was a very odd film, but I enjoyed it. It's true one should know as little about it as possible before watching - even using words like 'folklore' when describing it (as I've seen in the press) is enough to take away the surprises.

The performances were fantastic and the sex scene was wonderful - obvs strange, but moving and recognisable too. I understand the film needed something more substantial, but the way the paedo sub-plot suddenly interacted with the main did feel a bit TV movie. I agree about the camerawork - the realistic filming style helped ground the characters but then it made me call into the question the conspiracy over the trolls and the ignorance of them in society.

It's defintely a film that stayed with me, even though I think it's a wee bit slight for its runtime.

Glebe

Quote from: Blinder Data on March 15, 2019, 08:55:29 AMIt's defintely a film that stayed with me, even though I think it's a wee bit slight for its runtime.

Saw it yesterday evening, yes I'd agree it's a bit slight and that, but it's pretty good nonetheless... Tina and Vore's relationship is quite moving, and there's a wonderfully sad melancholia about the film. The extremely unpleasant subplot they added does feel a little unnecessary, and Vore is made a little bit too sinister, but yeah, it's a fairly unique work, and I 'enjoyed' it, if that's the right word.

Norton Canes

Quote from: rasta-spouse on March 07, 2019, 11:56:07 AM
This was really nice. The relationship initially seemed Wayne & Waynetta comical

Thank you. Saw this last night and felt a nagging familiarity I couldn't pin down.

Anyway notwithstanding the slob comparisons it's very good. Coincidentally I'd dug out my Vampire - The Masquerade handbook the other day after reading the V:TM thread in Technology and this film basically played out like a Troll expansion.

Pretty much the only thing I thought it was lacking was a touch more humour as it had a slightly po-faced tone throughout. A chuckle at the post-coital snail meal was very welcome.

sevendaughters

Didn't chime with this. Nice that it encompassed ancient myth in a way that offered some challenge to its volkishness about modern society, but I found it a bit prurient and static. Also I thought the paedo stuff was a but cheap. I get how it works narratively but it just didn't sit well with me.