Flugparken (2014)

Flugparken: Directed by Jens Östberg. With Sverrir Gudnason, Peter Andersson, Malin Buska, Leonard Terfelt. Kristian Keskitalo was once a talented hockey player. Now, he’s a nobody. Then, after a night spent together, his buddy Alex goes missing. Kristian starts acting increasingly aggressive and irrational, getting mixed up with local kids, setting up shaky deals, looking to confront wrongdoers. Then, Alex is found dead. In the wake of tragedy, Kristian seems to connect with Alex’s father, Berndt. But Kristian also longs for a connection with Diana, Alex’s widow. And, he thinks he’s the real father of Elias, their son. In fact, taking over his friend’s life in all possible ways seem… well, natural, almost. Only, Kristian is a liar. The police are watching him, as is Berndt, both moving closer and closer, as Kristian edges towards breakdown.

“Overcoming a loss isnu0026#39;t anything new in the film territory, there are countless movies on the subject and from time to time something relatively new comes in to give us some thought, some light on how difficult it is to deal with someoneu0026#39;s death. Usually they make good solid movies, helping us in trying to understand the process of losing someone you care (u0026quot;Ordinary Peopleu0026quot; for instance) or even someone you barely knew (the forgotten u0026quot;Wetherbyu0026quot;) cause in the end thereu0026#39;s always an impact on the ones who stay behind. Now u0026quot;Blowfly Parku0026quot; could make part of this list of essential pictures on the loss topic. It misses the mark cause it fails to generate interest and it fails to create some coherent story.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBack to what I got gathered: Kille (Sverrir Gudnason) is a former hockey player who now just wanders through things doing practically nothing except getting drunk with his best friend Alex (Leonard Terfelt). The latter one is far more crazy with his drunkenness, which leads to his accidental death while looking for a fox, something Kille didnu0026#39;t want to be part of it. He blames himself for leaving his disoriented friend back in the dark wilderness and doesnu0026#39;t reveal to anyone his whereabouts. As far as the police knows, Alex is just missing. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe turning point of the story comes when Kille decides to comfort Alexu0026#39;s dad and to get close to Alexu0026#39;s wife and their kid, whom he claims itu0026#39;s his since they both had an on-going affair. With the script focusing on those relationships it would be better, specially if the affair with the woman was more developed, giving the main character a sense of redemption, finding a meaning to his life. Instead, the film prefers to make of Kille an erratic character who is very difficult to relate, going from one stupid action to another while fighting troubled teens who put him in strange and dangerous situations. As the movie progresses, Kille is more worried about getting his robbed bike back than really worrying about his friendu0026#39;s death or about the police inquiries on him. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eUncompelling drama with nice touches of a good thriller, u0026quot;Blowfly Parku0026quot; has peaks of inspiring moments that easily catches your attention – for the most part itu0026#39;s just tedious. The greatest sequence in the film, also one of the last, involves a confrontation between Alexu0026#39;s father (a genuine performance by Peter Andersson) and Kille in the woods. The desolate setting, the staging, this scene had me on the edge of my seat. Through the whole thing, itu0026#39;s crystal clear that Alexu0026#39;s dad treats the best friend as if he was his own son but at the same time he doesnu0026#39;t trust that Kille is telling everything about Alexu0026#39;s disappearance. Had the movie been presented through the old manu0026#39;s perspective, we would have a solid gold of a movie. He was the character I cared the most. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eNo high hopes before watching and no great disappointment with the final results. Thatu0026#39;s it. 5/10”