Winter is coming: a meta-ironic kaleidoscope of Nordic melancholy in the spirit of Roy Andersson and Frederick Wiseman
If there was an illustration of the emotional state of the average post-Soviet person during the winter, it would look like any of the music videos by the band “Molchat Doma”. A similar illustration, but for Scandinavia, could easily be the new darkly humorous saga by Сarl Olsson, consisting of 24 short chapters based on the eponymous song by Swedish musician Ted Ström. The concise and perfectionistic “Vintersaga” practically creates a new genre, balancing between art installation, comic book, observational comedy, and social satire based on the recognizable reality of winter. A group of guys joyfully burns tires on a BMW in the factory backyards; an elderly couple sits under a lighthouse and observes the birds; monarchists gather for a formal dinner in honor of His Majesty; two girls test new Sephora makeup in a car; Stockholm restaurant workers take a smoke break; police officers shiver in a dark alley; a couple has sex in a hotel room; ferry operators discuss where to go for lunch: each of these microscopic stories becomes part of a larger puzzle, capturing the diversity and contradictions of not only modern Sweden but all of us.
Original language: Swedish, Polish, Meänkieli Subtitles: Belarusian | English