BORDER is a screen adaptation of a short story by John Avildsen Lindqvist, the man best known for being behind the excellent book and film of LET THE RIGHT ONE IN. This is a far cry from the quality of that movie but still interesting enough, tackling the subject of trolls in a modern Swedish society in a very different way to that in TROLL HUNTER. Now I love TROLL HUNTER and this is nowhere near as good as that; this one's a slow-burning arthouse flick with very little incident that feels very much like what it is, a short story stretched right out to feature length. But the performances are excellent and the understated direction works well, making the characters and folklore very interesting; I was just left wanting more than what we get.
Plot summary
Tina, who has grotesque, almost animal-like physical features, has always felt self-conscious about her looks. Regardless, she has: a live-in boyfriend, Roland, a dog trainer, at her isolated house in the woods, although they have never had sex, and Tina's father, who is in the early stages of Alzheimer's, believing he is solely using her; the unconditional love and support of her father; a small group of friends; and the admiration of her bosses and coworkers in her job as a customs agent at the Ferry terminal, as she is literally able to "smell" human emotions, especially guilt and fear. It is using that innate ability that she stops a seemingly straight-laced person entering the country, he who was found to be carrying a memory card containing child pornography. As such, her immediate supervisor, Agneta, places her on a small investigative unit to discover the producers of this material. Tina is surprised when she is found to be incorrect about another person going through customs, Vore, an entomologist who, like her, possesses those similar grotesque, almost animal-like physical features, he who is found not to be carrying anything incriminating. In Vore and Tina's multiple encounters at customs, the two begin a friendship, Tina, for the first time, believing she having found a kindred spirit. As Tina learns more and more about Vore, the more she learns about herself. As more and more information comes to light, Tina has to decide whether to abandon the life she has known in its entirety for the future that Vore offers her, that future which may go against what she has always believed to be the good about being human.
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Interesting, but I wanted more
Different beauty
Now some things may not look "pretty", but it's always in the eye of the beholder. We are used to a certain look, to a certain beauty standard. The makeup is amazing in this, again if you don't mind this going against what you might find enticing and beautiful to look at.
Now I really wanted to stress this, because we are used to glamour and all that. But it's not just those things the movie goes up against. It's also tough to put a mark on this. It is kind of a love story, but it's also more of a drama and then there is also a thriller in there. So you get quite a few things, not to mention the fairy tale aspect of it (or at least fantasy portion). It really won't be something for a lot of people, for a lot of reasons. But if you are ok with odd, if you are ok, with not conventional storytelling, with weird characters, with outsiders overcoming things and reputation, then this will entertain you, but not in the sense a Hollywood movie would.
It's hard to describe, but there is beauty within
Are you what you seem?
Since Scandinavia is stereotyped as the most pleasant, peaceful, and uneventful region in the world, it's interesting to see Scandinavian movies depicting rough things happening there. One example is Ali Abbasi's Oscar-nominated "Gräns" ("Border" in English). The protagonist is a border patrol agent with unsightly facial features. While helping expose a child pornography ring, she meets an equally unattractive man, and learns something shocking about herself.
This movie isn't for the fainthearted or those with short attention spans. It shows some, ahem, unusual things, and often takes a while to get the action going. But when it gets going, there are some things guaranteed to blow your mind.
It's not a great movie, but I'm eager to see Abbasi's next movie. I expect a thriller with all sorts of dark stuff, something that will continue to challenge the notion of Scandinavia as a paradise. In the meantime, this one is worth seeing, but be forewarned, there's some intense stuff here.