Darkly funny… a very good and very brave portrait in black of a country often seen as a model, caring society.
Screened as part of NZIFF 2004
Four Shades of Brown 2004
Fyra nyanser af brunt
The influence of PT Anderson’s Magnolia and Altman’s Short Cuts is evident in several of this year’s most impressive and ambitious new films from young European directors. This first feature by Killinggänget, a troupe known in Sweden for television comedy, interweaves four independent, jaundiced tales of contemporary life. An uptight couple are mortified when his magician parents turn up at their ultra-cool beach hotel with mum’s new boyfriend in tow. Another couple lavish more attention on a sponsored child in Rio than on their own wayward son. The bereaved and hopeful gather to hear the last will and testament of a vastly wealthy man they loathed. A therapeutic self-help group implodes. Killinggänget (the name is meaningless) are considered the local Monty Pythons but their satirical assaults and taste for the surreal owe more to Roy Andersson (Songs From the Second Floor) and Ulrich Seidl (Dog Days). — BG