August felt long, perhaps the weather here in the UK played a role in that, but with it being so long it allowed for the Nordic Watchlist team to get really stuck into a bumper month of new releases, books, and even a stage show! Here is our monthly Nordic Spotlight: Best in Screen and Page – August edition.
TV SERIES: Evil | Walter Presents/Channel 4
Isac Calmroth, Gustaf Skarsgård, Christian Fandango Sundgren and Thea Sofie Loch Næss star in this six-part Walter Presents drama. It’s a morality tale, set in a Swedish boarding school, that asks if anyone is ever truly born evil.
This is a compelling, if harrowing, series. The performances are outstanding as each character falls prey to their own particular cycle of abuse. There’s class drama, ethical “grey areas” and scenes of shocking violence, making for an unsettling watch. Every scene, every piece of dialogue, feels loaded with danger.
This is a thoroughly well-acted, well-written series that isn’t afraid to tackle hard subjects.
TV SERIES: Veronika | Viaplay US
If you like your crime dramas flavoured with a little bit of horror and the supernatural, then Veronika is a must watch. Alexandra Rapaport stars as the titular detective investigating cold cases in a small Swedish forest town. Plagued by bloody hallucinations and living in a creaking, eerie house, is she really the right woman for the case?
The series is neatly paced, holding your attention from start to finish – whether that’s through supernatural jump scares or another plot twist you didn’t see coming. Tobias Santelmann plays perfectly opposite Rapaport’s spiralling Veronika, with their characters facing up to some uneasy truths.
This is a detective story with a difference.
FILM: Paradise Is Burning | Cinemas
Sixteen year old Laura (Bianca Delbravo), twelve year old Mira (Dilvin Asaad) and seven year old Steffi (Safira Mossberg) are facing a sunny, parent-free summer. And whilst that might sound like bliss to many, it’s just another episode in their life that pushes them ever closer to the clutches of social services.
This is a unique coming-of-age drama that feels improvised and naturalistic. The performances are thoroughly authentic; drawing you in to the lives of these chaotic sisters.
It feels both hopeful and hopeless, building and building to the social services visit that we never get to see. There are no tricks or tropes, just a solid drama that will leave you both frustrated and engrossed.
FILM: The Hypnosis | MUBI UK
Another example of “Nordic Cringe”, this is director Ernst de Geer’s feature-length debut; a satire set amongst the world of tech start ups. Vera (Asta Kamma August) and André (The Worst Person in the World’s Herbert Nordrum) star as an entrepreneurial couple looking to launch their app.
Vera undergoes hypnosis and regression therapy in order to help her stop smoking. It doesn’t have the desired effect – but has it unleashed socially unacceptable, childish and aggressive behaviours instead?
Lingering feelings of second hand embarrassment will permeate your viewing experience – one absolutely not to miss.
BOOK: Shrouded by Sólveig Pálsdóttir
When a body is found in a graveyard in the middle of winter it soon becomes clear that this wasn’t natural causes. Standard police procedures soon swing into action but when the world of police and the world of mediums and spiritualists collide then it’s set for a rough ride.
Sólveig Pálsdóttir’s fourth instalment in the Ice and Crime series is beautifully crafted, not afraid to delve into the darker elements of society.
In this fourth book, we learn more about detectives Fransson and Guðrún, a pair who have now become established as firm favourites on the Nordic Noir scene. Beautifully plotted, Sólveig Pálsdóttir continues to show why she’s such a leading light in the Icelandic literary scene.
BOOK: Pursued by Death by Gunnar Staalesen
Oddly, given its prevalence in Norway, salmon fishing has yet to feature heavily in Norwegian crime fiction, something rectified in Pursued By Death, Gunnar Staalesen’s latest in his long-running Varg Veum series.
Think Dallas or Dynasty but set against the salmon farms in the Norwegian Fjords and you won’t be far off the politics behind the scenes of an otherwise idyllic setting. When the body count begins to rise though, Private Investigator Varg Veum is drawn into a local community who keep their secrets close to their chest.
Written in trademark gripping fashion by Staalesen, Pursued By Death shows this franchise has no sign of running out of steam.
BOOK: Fatal Gambit – David Lagercrantz
Lagercrantz perhaps first came to the attention of English readers for taking over the Dragon Tattoo series following the death of original author Steig Larsson. An acclaimed writer in his own right, however, Dark Music, his first book of a new Reeke and Vargas series was number-one bestseller in his native Sweden.
Here with book two in the series, Fatal Gambit sees ghosts from the past resurface in a thrilling tale of dark family secrets and even darker underworld crime.
Lagercrantz showed in his Dragon Tattoo sequels that he wasn’t afraid to portray darkness on the page and Fatal Gambit continues that trend. Breathtaking and pacey, this is a real page-turner with plenty of jumps on the way. The signs are good for another literary franchise from this expert storyteller.
What else happened in August?
- Glen reviewed the new Gunnar Staalesen and Sólveig Pálsdóttir novels.
- Mary had one of her first major interviews with none other than Alexandra Rapaport and it is a truly wonderful piece!
- Paradise is Burning finally got released which Mary reviewed and Alex spoke to one of its lead stars Bianca Delbravo
- Glen visited the theatre to check out and reviewed Utoya at the Arcola Theatre
- We checked out the new documentary Haaland – The Big Decision
- Walter Presents delivered a new TV Series that might haunt you (as it did Mary) with Evil!
- We took at a look at True Crime series you can catch on Viaplay
- Mary cringed and fell in love with The Hypnosis which arrived on Mubi
What series did you discover and enjoy this month? Anything we have missed and need to catch?
