LFO

Robert is a lonely audio engineer. After much research he manages to develop a sound frequency that immediately puts anyone who hears it into an hypnotic trance and makes them totally bend to his commands. He immediately starts using the device to influence his neighbours, initially sparingly but then constantly. What could possibly go wrong?

Novel idea. Pretty much plays to our fantasies of having some sort of magical power that allows us to control others. The scene- setting and the initial use of the device was quite interesting and even amusing at times.

A pity then that the plot doesn't really go anywhere. With everything nicely set up for something profound or, at least, entertaining, the movies drifts from about the half-way mark. Instead of building on the start, we pretty much have the same scenarios being played out over and over again.

The movie does ultimately find a direction, but it's a random one, one that is not developed or justified at all by what came before. Quite bizarre and random ending.

Worth seeing for the first half. Second half is disappointing.

Actually, LFO is an acronym for Low Frequency Oscillation, but it is also the delightfully Heath-Robinson story of the excellent Patrik Karlson's troubled acoustician and his increasingly obsessive behaviour. Writer/ director Antonio Tublén (who also wrote the electronic score) has fashioned a fine morality tale that (as good writing dictates) is plausible after the initial conceit is accepted. The film's tone is cold, it is almost emotionless and often claustrophobic, but this only multiplies its effectiveness in provoking the viewer's contemplation of increasingly challenging events. Karlson is ably supported by forthright performances from Izabella Jo Tschig and Per Löfberg as his neighbours, and Ahnna Rasch as his wife. In a landscape of modern cinema in danger of becoming dominated by endless high-rise multiplex pap, it's refreshing to discover such oases of intelligent and thoughtful film-making as LFO, and you owe it to yourself to see this film, if only to recharge the batteries of your Bay-sh-t detector.

There's a decadent fantasy here and the audience might just want to relate or vicariously share the main character's enjoyment of his power. And the film is also just original and quirky enough that I was tempted to go up to eight stars. However, it's also a bit messy and at times unsavory and, well, just isn't going for eight starts. It set out to be a full-value, I-am-what-I-am, dirty-secret seven.

This 2013 scandanavian sci-fi film centers on Robert Nord, a formerly powerless man in an unsatisfying life, who discovers the exact frequency needed to control people's minds. He can give orders to their subconscious, from what to do to how to feel and what they even notice. Testing this out on his neighbors, he continuously experiments with this new power, while also using it to deflect law enforcement and a man who wants to know the secret for himself.

The story is told in a non linear fashion, with scenes often put out of order, to where we'll see something begin but cut away and go to another part of the story, before we see it's result later on. Don't be scared off by this, however. The film is easy to follow, you simply need to pay attention. In addition, the film is very cold and distant, using none of the usual techniques to manipulate audience reaction, but simply allowing things to play out. This works well for the dry sense of humor the film has, much of it centered around how both dark and absurd Robert's experiments become, which needless to say fall very short of what most rational people would consider moral. The only judgements made, however, are by the audience alone. However even with his immoral action, it's easy to feel some slight sympathy for Robert, a mentally ill, somewhat pathetic individual who at times seems to have his heart in the right place, but whose actions never lead to consequences good for anyone, not even himself. LFO: The movie finds that perfect balance, between conveying the philosophical quandaries of it's subject matter as well as the innate comedy of it, which come together especially perfectly in the film's conclusion.

I don't want to say too much more, because it's better to go into this knowing very little. If what I wrote sounds even a little intriguing to you, chances are this film is right up your alley and you should seek it out immediately.

A creepy unsettling dive into the world of a man who can do anything he wants to people and they don't know it. We see how he starts out low, catering to low desires and then things get bent. One of the creepy elements that goes a long way in this flick is the old fashioned equipment and rendition of the science. A self-centered self-serving creep of a sound scientist finds himself alone when his family dies in a car crash. He hits on the secret sounds to make anyone his slave...and then he uses them.