This weekend, I watched Smala Sussie (Slim Susie), Ulf Malmros' deliriously black comedy from Sweden, about an independent publisher in Stockholm who receives a phone call that his sister, who he left behind three years ago to take care of their alcoholic mother in their rural hometown, has disappeared. He goes back to find out what happened to her, and discovers how dangerously criminal things have become while also reminding himself why he left in the first place. To American eyes, it fits a little too comfortably into a genre of film that we have in abundance here without bringing much of an original edge to it, but it's quite appealing as a film and I highly recommend it.
The Swedish pop soundtrack is brilliant (you can sample it here), and I immediately began trying to track it down online. It's available from Swedish retailer Skivhugget but I'm waiting to see if my jones for it sticks before paying to have it shipped from Gothenburg, Sweden. While considering other cds to order as well, I came across the excellent Scandinavian pop chronicle It's a Trap. And also, the punk-soul stylings of Moneybrother, and Stockholm-based Norwegian chanteuse, Ane Brun.
For Scandinavian delight in New York, visit Good World Bar & Grill.
Windowlicker - from the French for window shopping: faire du lèche-vitrine - appears on Tuesday and Thursdays at 10am EST.
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