fredrik-josefsson

I sometimes find myself watching the show. I am HOPING that the episode will be an interesting one. But every time it is the same thing. This stupefied overly dramatic setup. They get comments from the chefs who all have smart comments such as "I seriously thought they would FIGHT!", "it was SO sick!", "he was CRAZY!". Various soap drama. All with this high tense music that is supposed to make us all excited and anxious.

But actually, little real action happens. They have edited the show so heavily to make it appear that something exciting happens but it is just the same old petty jealous gossip and backstabbing. The producers thought that they take Gordon Ramsey, call the program Hell's Kitchen, and make something completely WILD. But it's the same setup as we have in Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmare. They edit in every time Gordon gets angry about something and throw in lots of comments from the chefs who often have below-average intelligence.

In any normal job, Gordon's behavior would have been deemed unacceptable and he'd get fired. But OK, it's a show. Will you learn anything from it? Yes I supposed you might get a glimpse of how it can be to work as a chef and of how many ways there are to fail. That's it.

The show would have been much better if they had let their fingers off the editing board a bit and just show what really goes on in the kitchen.

That is what I thought when watching this film. I have never watched a Bollywood film before but judging on the shorts snippets I have seen of such films, in TV-programs etc, this must be a far way from the ordinary Bollywood film. Actually I am convinced that a similar plot could easy become a successful Hollywood film. All the elements are there. There is the unhappy crook who falls in love, and to get his girl he has to pretend he is something he is not. There is the crook's comical and not to bright side-kick who supports him through thick and thin. There is the pretty and intelligent girl. And there is the ancient wisdom, here manifested in the holy Mahatma.

And then there is the typical life-changing plot. The crook tries to become a better man and at the same time succeeds in making the world a better place.

Yes I really liked it. There were a couple of musical numbers that I thought were well made and made sense. And the acting, writing and directing were all professional. Several times I laughed out loud at the comical points.

Suxxess is about the initially friendly and sociable company Omduville (This is Swedish for "Ifyouwant(e)"). The company gets a new boss in the shape of Robert Mattson (played by Göran Ragnerstam). Robert turns out to be virtually emotionless and soon makes many drastic changes that he thinks will improve efficiency, including firing several loyal members of the workforce. The employees become more and more enraged, leading up to a climax, where suddenly the tables are turned. But once that happens, it turns out that being a boss is based on more than personality: it is a position that takes its man.

There are some good things about this film. The actors are, in general, skilled. The boss, played by Göran Ragnerstam, plays very well and, as the award section for this film reveals, it rendered him a "Guldbagge", the most important film award in Sweden. Lennart Jähkel (who played James) was nominated for the same award, and it was well deserved too. The main character also acted very well, although he wasn't nominated for any award.

The scenery was superb. It is interesting to note how the interior changed from the beginning of the film when it was warm lightening, soft furniture, colorful paintings, etc; compared to the end of the film when the lightening was sterile, the furniture were modernistic, metallic and hardly any colors. Related to this, the photography was also very good.

Now for some flaws. First of all the script has difficulties. The whole meaning of this film is probably to show that power corrupts, but it could also be a story of guilt, because there are several deaths in the film, each one leading to a change of events. It could also be viewed from a class-perspective: the ruling class is destined to suppress the workers. This confusion is not good for us viewers. Furthermore, all main characters are selfish in their essence. It would have been good to have one character with whom the audience could relate to.

Apart from the drawbacks, it is a nice and simple little film. Without any extravagance, it tells its story in an efficient and gripping way.