Time for our picks of the month for the last month of 2022!
Along with what we have listed here we did take a little time out from our Nordic region watching to catch up with The White Lotus, Severance, and Bad Sisters – all of which we loved!
Film
Troll | NETFLIX
The month kicked off with the excellent Troll, which has been well received all over the world. Director Roar Utang’s returns to Norway, as we saw the country facing off against an angry troll, one which looked brilliant thanks to the special effects and the backdrop of the country’s stunning landscape.
Some have called it a Norwegian Godzilla movie which is a huge accolade to the work Roar has done – sit back, switch your brain off and enjoy!
Gold Rush | VIAPLAY
It was quite fun watching Gold Rush having seen A Storm For Christmas (see below) earlier in the month, mainly because two of the characters from the series appear in this movie – and it is quite a different genre for them both. Jon Øigarden and Ida Elise Broch are two of many recognisable faces in the film – with the likes of Sven Nordid and Axel Bøyum also appearing in this 1940s set thriller!
The film follows a secret mission involving the Secretary of state Fredrik Haslund (played by an excellent Jon Øigarden) as he has to rally a rag tag bunch to help transport Norway’s gold to safety as the German’s begin to invade their country. The story is based on real events from the 1940s and is a fantastic Nordic thriller to settle in for!
Stepping into the role of Fredrik Haslund, a seemingly ordinary man who is given an extraordinary task, fascinated me greatly. Little did these people know what they were facing – to transport 50 tons of Norwegian gold with the Germans on their tails is a formidable achievement. This is an amazing story and for me as an actor, it has been an incredibly interesting and exciting challenge.”
– Jon Øigarden
TV Show
A Storm for Christmas | NETFLIX
Norwegian director Per-Olav Sørensen returns to our screens one more time after his fantastic work on The Playlist. Here, the director focuses his attention on Christmas with Netflix’s A Storm For Christmas which has been a big hit. This isn’t the first time the director has set foot in yuletide territory after having great success with the excellent Home for Christmas which was out last year.
This time we focus on a group of passengers stranded at Oslo airport days before Christmas. With time on their hands they get to reflect on their own lives and relationships which all leads to some form of a happy ending.
The series has a huge cast, is spread over six episodes, and is bound to be a new favourite ‘go to’ when Christmas comes round again next year.
Thin Blue Line | Viaplay UK
We are aware this series was released last year but it has now been made accessible to us in the UK through Viaplay and so we took the opportunity to finally watch this series – which ended up with it being binged rather quickly.
As expected it lived up to all the hype one might have expected – all the cast are absolutely exceptional in this. It isn’t easy viewing, as it tackles a number of hard subjects, although at times there is some humour to lift your mood. Poor old Malmo’s tourist board must be beside themselves after this!
Nordic News
The Nordic films heading to the Academy Awards
Congratulations to Holy Spider, House Made of Splinters, and Ivalu for getting nominated in the Academy awards – the competition has been incredibly tough this year so this is a huge accolade to all those involved in the films.
We will be doing our bit to find out more on the films and keep you up to date.
Brand new Danish content coming to Netflix in 2023
Netflix has revealed some more Danish content coming to the streamer in 2023. One is a a new series called The Nurse (pictured left – Photo Credit: Tine Harden) and then a new film by the name of A Beautiful Life (pictured right – Photo Credit: Martin Dam Kristensen).
The Nurse (bottom left) is based on the book The Nurse by Kristian Corfixen, which in turn is based on a a true story about a Danish nurse who was convicted of manslaughter for up to four of their patients!
Whilst A Beautiful Life (bottom right) sees a young fisherman, with an incredible talent for singing, who gets a huge opportunity when a high profile music manager discovers him – where might this new world lead?
Denmark’s Robert Awards and Sweden’s Guldbugge Nominations
Robert Awards
Denmark’s Robert awards saw Margret The First and The Venus Effect take up 13 and 12 nominations a piece – with the two films dominating the nominations. Elsewhere, The Chestnut Man picked up a number of nods in the TV categories – you can find out more of their extensive list HERE
Guldbagge Awards
In Sweden, the Guldbagge Awards saw the likes of Triangle of Sadness and Boy From Heaven/Cairo Conspiracy scooping up 9 and 7 nominations respectively. I am Zlatan was not far behind with 6 nomintations! You can see the full list by following the link HERE
OUR BEST OF 2022 NORDIC FILM AND TV SERIES
If you missed them earlier in the month here are our two lists for our favourite Nordic Films and TV Series that we enjoyed in 2022.
What’s coming up in JANUARY
We take a look at what is being released in the New Year – with an exciting new series from Nicholas Winding Refn and finally we have the release of Iceland’s Beautiful Beings.
Alex will also be catching up with Olafur Darri Olafsson (Entrapped) and Danish actress Maria Erwolter (1899) so look out for these interviews – plus a discussion with the star making their debut in Copenhagen Cowboy.
- Copenhagen Cowboy arrives to Netflix
Nicholas Winding Refn is back in Denmark and with that comes his new series Copenhagen Cowboy – we have been lucky enough to see the series and we can honestly say that we don’t think anyone is quite ready for this. See for yourselves when it comes to Netflix on the 5th January!
- Beautiful Beings arrives on Digital on Demand
We were so frustrated to hear that the film’s UK release had been delayed, but now hopefully people can finally get to watch this incredible and hard-hitting Icelandic drama – which it feels like we have been talking about it for years – when it becomes accessible to watch from the 13th January.
AND FINALLY – A THANK YOU!
From both myself and Claire we would like to say a big thank you to everyone who has continued to support Nordic Watchlist. Many may not realise that this is a passion project that has taken off, and we still manage to do this despite working full time.
Everyone’s interactions, discussions, and support has helped inspire us to continue to grow – so much so that this year saw a 115% increase in views compared to 2021! So expect more from us in 2023!
