Nina Frisk

This is Swedish director Maria Blom's second movie. The first one was "Masdjävlar" a promising debut. The follow-up is a little weaker.

It's about the air hostess (Sofia Helin) from a dysfunctional family, who finds a somewhat dysfunctional boyfriend with a 5-year-old son. Her relation with her mother, acted with total presence by Gunilla Nyroos, is a matter of tolerance and laughter and black understreams.

The interaction with the brother, brilliant played by Sven Ahlström, is both comforting and a little destructive, but all the time on the right side of the border. There are depths here that could have been more penetrated, and that makes the movie all right, but not more than so.

The director and scriptwriter Maria Blom, who directed the Swedish master piece "Masjävlar" here made an unbelievable mistake. The characters are so exaggerated that hardly no one can recognize them, whether it is the subclass Blom wants to portray or the wider, upper middle class she obviously seeks to charm. A fine character actress, like Gunilla Nyroos, suddenly turns into a Puppet on a String under Bloms direction. That is misuse of this most talented actress. Responsible for this is Blom, who has earlier proved she can do much better than this.

Nina Frisk is a better movie than the ratings suggest! I think maybe those who don't like it expect something else than the movie is. Nina Frisk is a comedy on the surface, but if you pay attention, eventually it is about complicated family relations, discovering who you are and finding love. Nina Frisk meets a guy, and it could be love, but his demons and dysfunction leads him on a different path, while Nina continues on her own, a little wiser maybe. The closest bond she has is with her slightly neurotic brother and a flight attendant friend. Her father has been absent her whole life, and her mother lives with an obnoxious semi alcoholic whom she's not willing or able to leave. Nina tries to navigate this mess of a life, and she has heart, a great smile and towards the end, as her illusions are shattered, she becomes straight forward and honest and tells some rude people to xxxx off, and then eventually as the movie ends, we know Nina Frisk will do alright.

Absolutely a top vote!! Another classic by Maria. People who say Nina Fisk is a weaker movie than "Masjavlar" is... well.. they are not right anyhow... This movie is even better in my opinion. The movie has the spirit of "Masjavlar", but I think "Nina Frisk" shows even more quality. I think the topic is more complex, the characters in the film are given more time and it is an even better dialog.

So in my opinion, Maria take another step with this movie. Unfortunately I was affected by the media, which somewhat wrote the film down so I didn't see it until today! What a mistake...

So the conclusion is: don't trust the reviews! Especially if you find them in the Swedish free delivered newspaper "City". They are just horrible..