Sophelikoptern (Sweden, 2016)

[Johnny Foreigner]

A rather delightful film by Swedish director, Jonas Selberg Augustsén, which seems to be a parody of road movies. Three siblings, apparently of Roma heritage, equipped with a roll of bubble wrap and a crossword book, are on a journey through the Swedish countryside to return their grandmother's broken clock. The driver's brother is convinced one of the words in his crossword puzzle has to be sophelikopter, that is, 'garbage helicopter', and stubbornly refuses to believe there is no such thing.

On their exciting voyage, the trio visit the world's largest cheese slicer, which stands in a nondescript field, and watch the world's largest chair go up in flames. They accidentally run into a calf and witness the solemn entry of the cows into a village, they reluctantly help some art thieves wrap up the stolen paintings (which is where the bubble wrap comes in), and a veritable gallimaufry of ferraginous adventures betides them along the way.



The dialogues are chiefly in Romani and occasionally in Swedish. Sophelikoptern was shot in black and white. The static camera shots contribute to the atmosphere of indolence and resignation.

I loved it; this film is slow-paced, dry and laconical, formally somewhat reminiscent of Clerks, with added allusions to what it means to be 'home', for every single stranger they meet at first addresses them in English. These people are fully integrated, perfectly bilingual and Caucasian, yet nobody, at first sight, considers them Swedes.

The phrase 'garbage helicopter' was taken from a Gunnar Ekelöf poem. I watched it with German subtitles on a rare second-hand DVD.

A real gem in my opinion. 9/10. Anyone else seen it?

[Small Man Big Horse]

I'd not heard of this before but it does sound like my kind of thing, and a rating of 9/10 is high praise indeed, so I've tracked down a copy and will give it a watch some point soon.

[Johnny Foreigner]

It was a chance find via an alternative bookshop in Berlin. It was featured at a small-scale festival dedicated to lesser-known Scandinavian films; unfortunately, the chap in charge told me he cannot deliver any DVDs to the UK as he only owns the rights for Germany, Austria and Switzerland. So, at the moment, I only have five of these quirky Scandi films.