73. Border (Gräns); movie review
BORDER (GRANS)
Cert 15
110 mins
BBFC advice: Contains strong sex, nudity, bloody images, language, child abuse references
It is very, very weird and I suspect it will gain more critical acclaim than box office approval but I found Border utterly compelling.
That may be down to its Scandinavian darkness. If it had been made in the UK or America it wouldn't have been nearly as effective.
Ali Abbasi's movie stars Eva Melander who plays Tina - a strikingly ugly border guard who can literally sniff out criminals.
Thus, she insists on a search of an outwardly respectable traveller who turns out to have a memory stick containing child porn.
However, she is thrown out of kilter when another arrival (Eero Milonoff) who sparks her senses has an uncannily similar appearance to hers.
Border draws together myriad element, ranging from a love story to fantasy alongside a particularly seedy criminal investigation.
It is never explained why both the border agency and the police never question Tina's nose for a suspect or how they first came upon the phenomenon.
Indeed, it seems a tad odd that she has reached middle age before trying to work out why she has this unique talent herself.
The opportunity seems to have gone because her mother is dead and her father (Sten Ljunggren) is suffering from dementia in a care home.
Border's quality lies not only in its originality but also in how wildly different story strands are pulled together.
The web is so tightly woven that it is unwise for the viewer to glance away from the screen for fear of missing a key piece to the puzzle.
It can also boast a remarkable performance by Melander who is unrecognisable and yet still convincing.
The way in which she sniffs out crime is eerily like an animal.
I shall write no more about the plot because I fear I am going to give away key storylines. Suffice to say, it is ambitious, experimental and very engaging in a way that only dark Scandinavian fantasies can be.
Reasons to watch: Weird but compelling
Reasons to avoid: Its strangeness will put off some
Laughs: None
Jumps: None
Vomit: Yes
Nudity: Yes
Overall rating: 8/10
Did you know? Border is adpated from a novel which is written by the same author as the vampire thriller Let The Right One In
The final word. Ali Abbasi: "I never thought about Border in terms of a ‘genre mixture’, although a big part of my job is being a mixer, balancing all the different elements into one coherent whole. Rather than a genre label, I would say more simply that maybe it’s a very European film."
The final word. Ali Abbasi: "I never thought about Border in terms of a ‘genre mixture’, although a big part of my job is being a mixer, balancing all the different elements into one coherent whole. Rather than a genre label, I would say more simply that maybe it’s a very European film."
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