UFO Sweden

My girlfriend loves anything to do with UFOs or Aliens so we like to watch a good sci-fi film every now and again. 'UFO Sweden' is a very good addition to this genre and is very well-made.

This was a sterling effort from the production team and from the actors and actresses. Make no mistake about it, 'UFO Sweden' is a great contribution to the relevancy of European cinema which often struggles with more limited budgets than our American counterparts in the film industry.

Undoubtedly one of the best Swedish and European sci-fi films ever released, do not miss out on 'UFO Sweden' if you love sci-fi.

Saw this at the Imagine film festival 2023 in Amsterdam. I assume this to be a movie for a much younger audience, letting viewers identify themselves with the lead actress Denise. Remember (in Dutch) the Bob Evers books, where young amateur detectives find the real truth where officials fail. Obviously, with my 75 years of age, I am way beyond the target group.

Lead protagonist Denise meets a collection of typical nerds in the form of UFO Sweden, a group so very anecdotical nerdy that it becomes too much to bear. Ditto with the 4-letter company owning a secret measurement station in the woods, not appearing on any maps. The company has an unwelcoming head office, seemingly very secure, but two of our nerds obtain access easily (too easy) via a backdoor. We meet their head of research a few times, The first time in the woods next to the officially non-existing station. She has all the appearances of a typical bureaucrat, very reluctant to cooperate. She did not admit that the station exists, even standing in front of it.

Very much later in the story, the same woman proves to be a true scientist under the skin. She changes heart once seeing the truth in the formulas shown to her, and happily works along with two intruders in a way that violates her job description on many counts.

I see little harm in the attempts made to simplify the laws of physics, calling names of famous scientists, mentioning well-known phenomena (relativity, wormholes etc), and using models for wormholes with sheets of paper.

I scored 3/5 for the audience award when leaving the venue. I must admit bias, knowing more about physics than an average viewer, and also not belonging to the target group of young people who are expected to identify themselves with lead-protagonist Denise.

PS: In the introductory address, one of the festival programmers said that the movie industry in Sweden succeeds for a fraction of the budget that Hollywood needs to still fail (said not exactly that; I paraphrase). This vintage movie feels genuine. It shows striking special effects, maybe made with better tools than exis-ted in the 80/90-ties it is situated in, but nevertheless looks neither over the top nor impossible for that era.

I must say that I knew nothing about this film, all I saw was a teaser trailer on a small screen. But I had a good feeling about the film, although to be honest, I expected something different.

The film is set in Norrköping, Sweden, in the 90s and follows a smart but headstrong teen girl who has lost her father. Yet, there's a possibility he's alive. Intent on finding him and uncover the truth, she visits her father's old colleagues and friends at 'UFO-Sverige,' aka UFO Sweden. Which is, by the way, a real organization founded in the 70s.

This is the kind of film that I am missing in the american cinema these days. The screenplay definitely has an american influence to it though, and by that I mean the good ol' (late) 20th century america. For the most part, the story surprised me in a positive way.

I was also positively surprised by the cinematography. Despite being a relative newcomer to feature films, Victor Danell did a splendid job as a director.

Inez Dahl Torhaug and Jesper Barkselius were both great in their roles, and the supporting cast was solid.

(I see a bright future for Victor Danell and Inez Dahl Torhaug in the film industry!)

If you want to see a fun sci-fi themed film that is easy to watch, I'd recommend this. I rate it a strong 7+/10.

The movie Interstellar comes to mind even if the quality and professionalism is far from it, but then again of course most movies are. They must have been inspired by it. It is a nice and even sweet and fascinating story of a young girl/woman trying to find out what happened to her father. It is a nice sci fi movie from our neighbor Sweden. The story and acting is adequate except from the scenes with the police. Then it becomes very implausible and amateurish. I still give the movie a 7/10 because for me a 6 is "No, this is not worth watching". The sound is good in 5.1 without the music being dominant.

6.6 on Imdb does not make this movie justice!

This is a gem that deserves more attention, as it, contrary to many Swedish movies, has fun characters, it is well played/acted and manages to take you back to the 80ies and 90ies. Their attention to detail was great, with a lot of props and other things relating to actual 80ies and 90ies, action scenes were fantastic and special effects were tasteful and very well made.

I was very surprised how well the action scenes were made, with intense car chases and hard-to-make fast scenes - super cool to see in a budget Swedish movie.

It made me laugh and wanna see more!