Border (Swedish Language) (2018)- BFI London Film Festival 2018

Review

101min

Genre:       Crime, Drama, Romance

Director:    Ali Abbasi

Cast:         Eva Melander, Eero Milonoff, Jörgen Thorsson…and more

Writers:     Ali Abbasi, Isabella Eklöf and John Ajvide Lindqvist

-Synopsis-

‘Tina’ is a perennial outsider, a loner with an abnormal physical appearance and extra sensory abilities, making her a highly effective Swedish border guard but something of a pariah in civil society. But when an enigmatic traveller who shares her traits crosses her path (and her border), this blunt and unassuming outcast forges an unprecedented connection, transforming her life but confronting her with truths which challenge her very identity.

Long has Swedish film added its distinct zest to the casserole of global cinema, from making an impact on Hollywood in its early days through greats like Ingmar Bergman, to its current state of telling eclectic stories, often adaptations from a new breed of internationally acclaimed Swedish authors. Now Iranian-Swedish filmmaker Ali Abbasi joins the fold with his second feature boasting a dark fantastical flavour, joining forces with John Ajvide Lindqvist to adapt the author’s short story—giving us a bizarre, darkly comical, occasionally grotesque, idiosyncratic modern fairy tale . . . and a story of self-acceptance we won’t soon forget.

Eva Melander stars as Tina herself, a calm customs agent with neanderthalic features, a deep connection with nature, a nose for contraband and a sixth sense for troubling thoughts, choosing to spend her time in the sanctuary of rural Sweden with her housemate ‘Roland’ (Jörgen Thorsson) and away from urban bustle, but proving a tenacious bulldog at the country’s border. When her duties unite her with kindred spirit ‘Vore’ (Eero Milonoff)—a crude nomad who unsettles polite society, but makes her feel like no other—her inner self is slowly unleashed and a life upturned. But her new soulmate hides a secret which will challenge Tina’s very identity, and force her into a life-defining decision.

This is a tough film to pin down, and it might prove many things to many people. Fantastical but not enough to be considered a true fantasy, showcasing deadpan Scandinavian black humour, but not enough for a genuine comedy—but it’s undeniably a complex character drama, with strong crime and mystery elements. Beyond its facade as an uncomfortable romance and modern fairy tale though, this is an unconventional tale of identity and discrimination. It’s is also something of an environmental parable, and a confronting meditation on mankind’s exploitative and colonialist nature.

‘Border’ is quite the provocative genre-bender too, dealing with troubling subject matter which reflects the darkest recesses of the human condition, while at times proving grotesque and at others ludicrous, and occasionally blending the two. Things also get unexpectedly carnal here, featuring subversive romantic movie sex as you’ve never seen it before . . . and probably won’t want to see again. But nothing is ever done for shock value, and it’s never gratuitous, always somehow feeling natural and helping to glue this peculiar tale together.

Everything about this film is unexpected, but delightfully so. Abbasi holds the tone—a mixture of subdued wonder and deadpan humour with a mood which steadily darkens—all while maintaining a sense of intrigue and mystery throughout, even after a major mid-film reveal which changes the context of the characters and indeed the whole movie, while irreversibly altering Tina’s path.

This is also a well shot and distinctive looking picture, with young up-and-coming Danish cinematographer Nadim Carlsen—for whom ‘Border’ is the second foreign language entry into next year’s Oscars—capturing the film’s natural forest landscapes and other external shots with a dusky light, giving the film a hazy, melancholy quality, which adds to the unsettling tone and gives it a subtle otherworldly yet gritty quality.

Despite solid supporting displays around them, ‘Border’ hinges on the performances of its two stars, and neither of them disappoints. Eero Milonoff is gloriously creepy as the unsettling drifter Vore, with a disquieting smiling gaze that fans of Aphex Twin might relate to, and a threatening disposition to anyone but Tina, to whom he offers something she didn’t even know she was looking for.

Meanwhile Eva Melander is undoubtedly the star of the show as Tina, delivering a nuanced, poignant and emotionally complex performance whilst the story becomes increasingly idiosyncratic and freakish. As she shifts from malaise and stoicism to passion and turmoil, while evolving from an unusual person with a chromosome flaw to something else entirely—but never losing her humanity along the way . . . which proves rather ironic.

If you come in cold with an open mind and no expectations, you’re likely to be confounded, gripped and delighted in equal measure by a layered and idiosyncratic concoction which surprises at every turn—but one thing’s for sure, you won’t leave complaining that ‘Border’ was just another one of those films . . . because you’ve probably never seen anything quite like it.

The Bottom Line…

Dark but quirky, unconventional, unpredictable and subversive, ‘Border’ has all the nuance of a complex character drama but the traits of a genre piece and the heart of a modern fairy tale, making for a bizarre romance and unsettling morality tale which delights and confounds, but won’t soon slip the mind—yet another Scandinavian gem which showcases the strength of independent cinema today . . . and a love story like no other.

‘Border’ is out in US cinemas on the 26th of October, and on the 15th of February 2019 in the UK.

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