THE NORDICS DO IT BETTER — SUMMER FILM SERIES

New York, NY—This summer at Scandinavia House, see the critically acclaimed Nordic films that inspired American remakes in the series “The Nordics Do It Better”! You’ve seen the Hollywood version — did you know how good the original was?

Kicking off the series on Wednesday, June 28 at 7 PM is A Man Called Ove (En man som heter Ove; dir. Hannes Holm, Sweden, 2016), one of Sweden's biggest hits and winner of the 2016 Audience, best Actor, and Make-Up Guldbagge awards (Sweden's Academy Awards). Based on the best-selling novel by Fredrik Backman, this comic and touching tale looks at a stubborn and short-tempered widower (Rolf Lassgård) who is given a new lease on life when an unexpected friendship blossoms with his new neighbors; it was remade in 2022 as the Tom Hanks-led film A Man Called Otto.   

On Thursday, July 13 at 7 PM, The Guilty (Den skyldige, dir. Gustav Möller, 2018), which was remade into a film of the same name starring and produced by Jake Gyllenhaal for Netflix, is an unrelenting Danish thriller that uses a single location to great effect, shortlisted Best Foreign Language Film at the 91st Academy Awards. The recently demoted police officer Asger Holm is expecting a quiet night on emergency dispatch, when he suddenly receives a call from a woman who has been kidnapped — though the circumstances may not be what he believes. 

On Wednesday, July 19 at 7 PM, the critically lauded Swedish romantic horror filmLet the Right One In (Låt den rätte komma in, 2008) follows fragile and bullied 12-year old Oskar as he befriends the seemingly-young Eli, whose arrival is followed by a series of disappearances and murders. Director Tomas Alfredson weaves friendship and loyalty into a disturbing and tender tableau of adolescence hailed as "an unforgettable, atmospheric love story" which was adapted in the U.S. as the 2010 film Let Me In (starring Kodi Smit-McPhee and Chloë Grace Moretz) and a 2022 Showtime TV series. 

On Wednesday, July 26 at 7 PM, a vengeance tale blending Cohen Brothers humor with Tarantino-style action, In Order of Disappearance (Kraftidioten, dir. Hans Petter Moland, 2016) stars Stellan Skarsgård as the introverted snowplow driver Nils, whose quest for revenge following his son’s death escalates into full-blown gang warfare; acclaimed as "a cheeky black comedy and worthy Norwegian successor to Kill Bill," (Globe and Mail), the film was remade by the director in 2019 as the American thriller Cold Pursuit starring Liam Neeson. 

And on Wednesday, August 2 at 7 PM, Ruben Östlund’s wickedy funny psychodrama Force Majeure (Turist, Sweden, 2014) follows the family of Swedish businessman Tomas and his wife Ebba on holiday in the French Alps, after an unexpected catastrophe — an avalanche that briefly threatens to bury the guests alive — leads Tomas to make a decision that shakes his marriage and family to its core; a "unique high-wire balancing act," it was adapted in 2020 as the film Downhill starring Julia-Louis Dreyfus and Will Ferrell. 

For further information and hi-res images, please contact lori@amscan.org or 212-847-9727.