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Mirror, Shoulder, Signal
Mirror, Shoulder, Signal
Dorthe Nors | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry
6
6.3 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
Danish Literature
I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.

Shortlisted for The Man Booker International Prize 2017, Mirror, Shoulder, Signal is a piece of Danish literature by Dorthe Nors, translated into English by Misha Hoekstra. It has a tragicomic nature, introducing the 40-year-old Sonja, a woman who is trying but failing to move in the right direction.

Sonja is the type of character full of flaws that readers will recognise in themselves. Although she has successfully become self-employed, translating crime novels from Swedish into Danish, Sonja feels she has not accomplished anything in life. Despite one unlucky attempt at love, Sonja has remained single, moving to Copenhagen in an attempt to find herself. Determined to earn her driving licence Sonja braves the lessons in the busy city, however, she cannot handle gear changes. In other areas of her life, she tries weekly massage therapy and attempts a meditation exercise. Unfortunately, Sonja remains apathetic to the whole scenario and would rather be somewhere warm eating cake.

Mirror, Shoulder, Signal is a cleverly crafted title that makes repeat appearances throughout the narrative. The three words are instructions that Sonja repeats as a mantra each time she pulls away from the curb in her instructor’s car. The majority of the book takes place during these lessons, or, if not there, face down on Ellen’s massage table.

Sonja’s narration constantly varies between the present and memories from her childhood. A particular focus is the recollection of events involving her sister Kate. They may not have been close when they were young, but now it is almost impossible for Sonja to contact her sister. It is as though Sonja has been alienated from her own family.

Embellished with sexual innuendos, poor attempts at humour fail to bring any excitement to the story. There is no clear plot. At the beginning, readers may wonder if she will earn her driver’s licence – she does not – find love – she does not – find herself – she does not. What, then, was the point of this novel? Apart from a suggestion of future happiness in the final chapter of the book, there is no sense of resolution.

The issue with some translated stories is the loss of original intent and meanings. This does not seem to have been much of a problem in this instance; however, the translator has not been entirely successful in converting the Danish into a naturally flowing English.

Overall, Mirror, Shoulder, Signal is a bit of a disappointment, especially because it has been shortlisted for such a prestigious prize. Since the prize is meant to be awarding the author for continued creativity and contribution to fiction, it makes you wonder what critics saw in this novel to believe it stood a chance at earning the honour.
  
Baby Teeth
Baby Teeth
Zoje Stage | 2018 | Fiction & Poetry, Thriller
Everything. This books takes risks for us thriller/horror fans and it pays off! (0 more)
That it had to end. (0 more)
CREEP AF and FANTASTIC!
This book is CREEPY AF! And I gobbled up every deliciously freaky disturbing morsel of it.

Hanna is Looney Tunes - she's like the Poltergeist girl, Firestarter and The Shining twins all wrapped into one with a hearty dash of Chucky. I loved every minute. What is creepier than a cute little kid who wants to kill her mom? I dare you to find something more disturbingly fantastic. Serious anxiety and massive doses of weird are peppered throughout in just the right amounts. I didn't want it to end, but I thought it was flawless from start to finish.

Suzette and Alex seem to be super cool modern parents. I picture them as hipster artists, living in a gorgeous modern home designed by Swedish green architect Alex. Suzette's incredible drawings hung on the walls and her beautiful interior design skills evident throughout. They are so in love and seem to have a perfect little beautiful girl named Hanna. She's adorable and so smart and oh, maybe just a smidge of BAT SH*T CRAZY.

Her "quirks" start pretty tame - she doesn't speak. And 6 years old - not a peep. Cue the creepy child music... soon, she's writing weird, angry messages to her mom, and getting kicked out of schools. Her mom has taken her to endless doctor appointments and had her development skills tested to no avail, but is still convinced there is something wrong with her child. And slowly, with every act of rebellion towards her, Hanna is beginning to scare her. Like, a lot.

The fact that Hanna ADORES Alex, and will do anything for him, is Suzette's biggest struggle. How does she get it through to her husband that the child he thinks as a sweet loving little girl, is trying to kill her? Everything Hanna does is when it's just the two of them. She is calculated, and devious. Is she a witch? Possessed by the devil? Psychopathic? Suzette is losing the battle trying to figure out what is wrong with her child. It's only a matter of time before she plunges a knife through her mother's heart!

There's a lot of talk about this book. I think if you don't like creepy murderous kids, it's probably not the book for you. But this books takes risks, and for us thriller/horror fans, they are applauded. Zoje Stage is at the top of my list of new favorite writers. The marketing campaign behind this book is smart and you can even follow one of the 'characters' adventures on Zoje's Instagram - which is hysterical!

I loved every minute of this book. I will be first in line when Zoje Stage writes the next one.
  
Mirror, Shoulder, Signal
Mirror, Shoulder, Signal
Dorthe Nors | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry
6
6.3 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
<i>I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.</i>

Shortlisted for The Man Booker International Prize 2017, <i>Mirror, Shoulder, Signal</i> is a piece of Danish literature by Dorthe Nors, translated into English by Misha Hoekstra. It has a tragicomic nature, introducing the 40-year-old Sonja, a woman who is trying but failing to move in the right direction.

Sonja is the type of character full of flaws that readers will recognise in themselves. Although she has successfully become self-employed, translating crime novels from Swedish into Danish, Sonja feels she has not accomplished anything in life. Despite one unlucky attempt at love, Sonja has remained single, moving to Copenhagen in an attempt to find herself. Determined to earn her driving licence Sonja braves the lessons in the busy city, however, she cannot handle gear changes. In other areas of her life, she tries weekly massage therapy and attempts a meditation exercise. Unfortunately, Sonja remains apathetic to the whole scenario and would rather be somewhere warm eating cake.

<i>Mirror, Shoulder, Signal</i> is a cleverly crafted title that makes repeat appearances throughout the narrative. The three words are instructions that Sonja repeats as a mantra each time she pulls away from the curb in her instructor’s car. The majority of the book takes place during these lessons, or, if not there, face down on Ellen’s massage table.

Sonja’s narration constantly varies between the present and memories from her childhood. A particular focus is the recollection of events involving her sister Kate. They may not have been close when they were young, but now it is almost impossible for Sonja to contact her sister. It is as though Sonja has been alienated from her own family.

Embellished with sexual innuendos, poor attempts at humour fail to bring any excitement to the story. There is no clear plot. At the beginning, readers may wonder if she will earn her driver’s licence – she does not – find love – she does not – find herself – she does not. What, then, was the point of this novel? Apart from a suggestion of future happiness in the final chapter of the book, there is no sense of resolution.

The issue with some translated stories is the loss of original intent and meanings. This does not seem to have been much of a problem in this instance; however, the translator has not been entirely successful in converting the Danish into a naturally flowing English.

Overall, <i>Mirror, Shoulder, Signal</i> is a bit of a disappointment, especially because it has been shortlisted for such a prestigious prize. Since the prize is meant to be awarding the author for continued creativity and contribution to fiction, it makes you wonder what critics saw in this novel to believe it stood a chance at earning the honour.
  
40x40

Matthew Krueger (10051 KP) rated The Girl in the Spider's Web (2018) in Movies

Feb 18, 2020 (Updated Feb 18, 2020)  
The Girl in the Spider&#039;s Web (2018)
The Girl in the Spider's Web (2018)
2018 | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Tangled
I love the american verison of "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo". And even the Swedish series was good. But i like the american verison better. So what about this film, its dull. It cant live up to the pervious film/series. I give Clarie Foy credit she was good as Lisbeth, but both Noomi Rapace and Rooney Mara were both excellent as Lisbeth and Clarie was a step down from them. She was the only good part of this film. The plot, the supporting charcters, the twist, the action were all dull and cant live up to the pervious movies.

The plot: Fired from the National Security Agency, Frans Balder recruits hacker Lisbeth Salander to steal FireWall, a computer programme that can access codes for nuclear weapons worldwide. The download soon draws attention from an NSA agent who traces the activity to Stockholm. Further problems arise when Russian thugs take Lisbeth's laptop and kidnap a math whiz who can make FireWall work. Now, Lisbeth and an unlikely ally must race against time to save the boy and recover the codes to avert disaster.

So this film acts as both a soft-reboot and a sequel to David Fincher's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Which is confusing cause in the film Lisbeth already knows Mikael and has alredy a realtionship with him. Which was confusing to me and still is.

Also this film came out seven years later from "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo". For those who dont know, in December 2011, Fincher stated that the creative team involved planned to film the sequels The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest, "back to back. There was an announced release date of 2013 for a film version of The Girl Who Played with Fire, although by August 2012 it was delayed due to changes being done to the script, being written by Steven Zaillian. The following year, Fincher stated that a script for The Girl that Played with Fire had been written and that it was "extremely different from the book," and that "despite the long delay, he was confident that the film would be made given that the studio already has spent millions of dollars on the rights and the script". And than in 2015, their just decided to reboot the franchise and by 2017, their decided to have a whole new cast.

I whould of loved to see David Fincher's verison of "The Girl Who Played With Fire" and "The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest". Cause like i said Rooney Mara was excellent as Lisbeth and Daniel Craig as excellent as Mikeal.

So overall is movie was dull and didnt live up to its pervious movies.
  
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Stieg Larsson, Martin Wenner | 2015 | Fiction & Poetry
8
8.1 (76 Ratings)
Book Rating
I've finally finished it! Whoop whoop!

This is a very different book to what I usually read. It contains a lot of strong language, sexual references, assault and Swedish finance. It also has a lot of investigating, which was my favourite part.

A financial journalist, Mikael Blomkvist, has been accused of libel after submitting a report about a rival company, owned by Hans-Erik Wennerström. The Wennerström Affair is huge - and has earned Blomkvist a three month stay in prison. This was all a bit hard for me to follow, as I don't know much about this subject. But I still managed to get the general gist of it.

A freelance worker at Milton Security is hired to research Mikael Blomkvist. Her name is Lisbeth Salander, and she's only in her twenties. Even so, she's probably the best worker Dragan Armansky has hired.

The client wanting a report on Blomkvist, Herr Frode, works for Henrik Vanger of the massive Vanger Corporation. Pleased with what they hear, they hire the journalist for a private matter - to solve the mystery of a missing girl from the 1960's.

While Blomkvist is researching the suspected crime, Lisbeth Salander is molested and raped by her legal guardian. She should turn him into the police, but that isn't her style. Instead, she gets her revenge.

Blomkvist finds out about the report written on him, and seeks out Salander. Together they begin to crack the case of Harriet Vanger. They are both put at risk when they discover the reason for Harriet's disappearance, and nobody's prepared for what they uncover.

Although the case is solved, the company Blomkvist works for - Millenium - needs revenge against Wennerström. To his surprise, Salander has just what he needs to really make a bang.

Like I said, this is quite an explicit novel - fathers raping their children, guardians attacking vulnerable young women, men sleeping with multiple women. The relationships seem to be ever-changing in this novel, but I suppose that's just realistic. But this is definitely not suitable for the faint-hearted, and there are some really horrific, visual descriptions that really will haunt you.

But if you like investigative or crime novels, I would definitely suggest giving it a go. It's not a quick read by any means, but it's cunning, it's realistic, and it's gripping. What more could you want from a novel of this genre? I really wasn't sure at first, as I just couldn't get into the multiple characters' stories or the whole situation with Mikael Blomkvist, but I did manage to get into the rhythm of it in the end, and really did enjoy it. For these reasons, I'm going to give Larsson's novel 4 stars. I'm seriously hoping I come across the next books in the series now!
  
Same Old - Single by SHY Martin
Same Old - Single by SHY Martin
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Album Rating
SHY Martin (Sara Hjellström) is a singer-songwriter raised in the small town of Lerdala, Sweden. Not too long ago, she released a lyric video for her “Same Old” single.

“My whole life changed after I moved. I lived the dream he’d always supported, and I got to see the world we’d both dreamt of. For a long time, I thought I wasn’t allowed to be hurt or miss him because I was the one who left. Today, I know that sometimes it’s just as hard to be the one who has to leave, if not harder.” – SHY Martin

‘Same Old’ tells an elegant tale which touches on a bittersweet personal story of SHY Martin.

Apparently, not too long ago, she moved away to music school, and in doing so, she had to break up with a supportive lost love.
‘Same Old’ contains a relatable storyline, ear-welcoming vocals, and lavish instrumentation scented with an electro-pop aroma.

Also, the Hampus Hjellström-directed audiovisual showcases moments from SHY Martin’s recent European tour.

‘Same Old’ follows the April release of SHY’s “Out of My Hands” single. Also, the likable tune follows in the success of her debut EP, entitled, “Overthinking”, which has amassed a collective 100M+ Spotify streams.

The impactful EP was driven by the singles “Forget To Forget”, “Good Together”, and “Just A Little Longer”.

Not too long ago, SHY established herself as a songwriter, which led to a co-write and feature vocals on Mike Perry’s “The Ocean” single.

SHY Martin recorded the vocals in one-take in her home wardrobe after a tonsil operation. She wrote the song with longtime Swedish songwriting partner, SHY Nodi, whom she has written several other songs with.

The track won Spotify Sweden’s Most Streamed Song of the Year with a groundbreaking 550M+ streams.

Since then, Martin’s songwriting catalog has gone on to generate 2.5 billion Spotify streams.

Her credits include “First Time” by Kygo ft. Ellie Goulding, “(Not) The One” by Bebe Rexha, “All We Know” by The Chainsmokers, “I Wanna Know” by NOTD (ft. Bea Miller), as well as songs for Jess Glynne, Astrid S, and ALMA, among others.

“I was never good at talking about my feelings so I wrote them down instead. When I felt sad, me and my mum wrote letters to each other about it. So expressing myself through songs came pretty naturally for me.” – SHY Martin

SHY Martin began writing songs and poetry in her youth as a means of self-expression. After winning a music contest at her school at age 17, she signed with EMI for a period though ultimately decided to go independent.

Recently, she just wrapped up her first European headline tour, which traversed 14 cities.
  
A man called otto (2022)
A man called otto (2022)
2022 | Comedy
7
7.5 (4 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Has Over-Sized Heart
They sure don’t make films like this anymore. A character study/drama featuring an “A-List” Star about a curmudgeon who finds that there is more to life than to hide from it. It’s the type of subject matter that has been seen over and over again, but this one hits differently.

It has an over-sized heart.

Based on the Swedish novel (and film) A MAN CALLED OVE…OTTO (played by Tom Hanks) is a recent Widower, who is forcibly retired and has given up on life. The question of the film is whether Otto can find a reason to keep on living.

These types of films can be over-melodramatic and saccharine, but in the capable hands of veteran Director Marc Forster (FINDING NEVERLAND) and the performance of Hanks (who shows that he still has his fastball) this film will touch your heart…if you open your heart up enough to receive it.

Foster has created a world where Otto has sealed himself off from the world by keeping a sharp eye on the perimeters of his row-housing. With an Engineering background, and a keen eye for detail, Otto keeps his world neat and orderly. However, it becomes clear that what Otto is really doing is retreating into this world - and further into himself - until a new neighbor (and a stray cat) starts pulling Otto out his cocoon.

Hanks, as mentioned above, is wonderful as the curmudgeonly Otto. It helps that Hanks’ inherit charm shines through during the early, grumpy, despondant portions of Otto’s existence. Despite what one is seeing on the surface, the audience instantly starts to root for Otto, more than likely due to the audience goodwill that Hanks has built up over his long and lusterous career.

Newcomer (at least to the BankofMarquis) Mariana Trevino is just as strong and caring as the new neighbor that starts breaking through the exterior of Otto. It is important for a film of this sort to have someone just as strong (but not overpowering) as the lead performer to serve as a balance. This Trevino (and the rest of the supporting cast) do very, very well.

Credit for this has to go to Director Forster who surehandedly steers the course of this film, threading the needle effectively on the edge of emotional heft and heart without falling into caricature and melodrama.

It is a charming, effective, quiet film that surprised the BankofMarquis with the amount of earnest heart imbedded within. If you are looking for a film that will charm you and warm your insides, look no further than A MAN CALLED OTTO.

Letter Grade: A-

8 stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)
  
En Concert A Paris by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
En Concert A Paris by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"I think it was Mike [Harding] from Touch who first introduced this to me. He said, 'You'll love it, and it's an unbelievable price' which is quite a killer combination if you like collecting things. I bought it and he's absolutely right. It's a master: there's no ways about it, you're hearing virtuosity, ensemble playing to the highest degree. It knows itself inside-out, which means you get this feeling of how it stretches and breathes. Basically if I'm wanting to listen to something from it I close my eyes, fumble around and take one of the six discs out so it's a surprise. Otherwise you can find something for the morning, a raga, blah blah blah. But these are just the most extraordinary devotional love songs. It's from a tradition which has been going on for a very very long time. It's not a part-time job at all; these are people who are dedicated. It's fantastic. I think it's truly inspiring in the sense that it's through listening to that that I've come upon solutions to things that I've been working on myself. It's the peculiar thing: you wake up in the morning having gone to bed with a problem or you're working on something that you don't quite know what the solution to is, and when that marvellous thing happens that all the work gets done in your sleep, it's just the very best. I had an example of that happening with this record. When Dietmar Post and Lucia Palacios were making the Transatlantic Feedback film about The Monks, in order to get the editing done they asked people if they would contribute a cover version of a Monks track. From the proceeds of that they were able to finish the editing. I was working with a Swedish friend of mine who'd introduced me to The Monks so much later than everybody else. I said he had to choose the song, and he picked 'Oh, How To Do Now'. I listened to it over and over so it got into my head and my conclusion was that we certainly can't do it like that, because the narrator of the song is obviously a young man who has extremely sexual feelings for a young lady and I thought it'd be highly inappropriate for us to pursue that angle. How do you get an in? I woke up the next morning and thought, 'I know what to do'. I rewrote their text and took the emotion down, made it more devotional and I thought, 'Ah, that's it, it's like Ali Khan'; you change it into that, so in fact it has one phrase that's basically stretched over half the song, and the other part fell into place. It's either the love or the devotion but also the sense of melody, really stretching out lines. That's an example of it being inspiring and useful."

Source
  
The Girl in the Spider&#039;s Web (2018)
The Girl in the Spider's Web (2018)
2018 | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Characters – Lisbeth Salander is the famous hacker that will stand up against any man that is causing a woman abuse, she will leave her brand on them. She is called for difficult hacking jobs, which sees her take something from the Americans, this makes her a wanted suspect in Sweden and her on the run looking for answers to clear her name. Mikael Blomkvist is still the only person that Lisbeth will trust, he tries to operate from a distant and investigates the trust behind what is happening. Ed Needham is the American that has his system hacked, a government man, he heads to Sweden to get it back and finds nothing but barriers from the Swedish government. Camilla Salander is the long lost sister of Lisbeth, she thought to be dead, but now she is involved in a criminal gang known as The Spiders, targeting Lisbeth for what she wants.

Performances – Claire Foy does feel mis-cast in this role, she doesn’t seem to have a tough enough look to make this character effect as the two previous stars. Sverrir Gudnason had large shoes to fill and he doesn’t do a strong enough job in the Mikael role, while Sylvia Hoeks does what she can with her role without being anything overly special, while LaKeith Stanfield doesn’t seem to feel like the character he is meant to be playing.

Story – The story here is the fourth story in the Dragon Tattoo world, the second in English and is the first not written by the original author. We follow Lisbeth who once again finds herself needing to take on secret organisation that what something that could put the world in danger and this time it becomes more personal, with her sister being the enemy. This story does feel like it has borrowed from many other films and while it still puts Lisbeth is an anti-hero role, we only seem to find ourselves in one direction where Lisbeth is always one step ahead of everything happening, despite the fact we get to see just how twisted the Spiders are, it paints one image of them only to leave us facing a different softer enemy.

Action/Crime – The action was pretty much all given away in the trailer, we have the motorbike chase across the ice, the car chases and shoot outs, each feels very similar and doesn’t have the suspense required in a thriller.

Settings – The film does try to bring everything back to Lisbeth’s backstory with the settings showing the off the grid life she current lives compared to the one she could have lived, the snowy roads add a little to the chases, but not that much overall.


Scene of the Movie – Ice lake escape.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – The Spider’s not hinting at wanting to do to what they did to the guy without a nose, to the new Lisbeth group.

Final Thoughts – This does feel like a cash grab on a franchise that has never taken off on the American side of things, we get everything scaled back leaving us feeling disappointed by the end of the film.

Overall: No thrills to be seen here.
  
Border (2018)
Border (2018)
2018 | Drama, Fantasy, Romance
If you’re a fan of the original super dark fairy tales, you’re probably going to love Border. But be warned, it contains some incredibly disturbing content that I wasn’t prepared for. This film is not an easy watch, and I found myself thinking about it for a long time afterwards. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, it just isn’t for the faint of heart.

The film follows Tina (Eva Melander), a woman who works for the Swedish Border Control. She has a unique talent to sniff out contraband, so she’s an asset to the rest of the team. This ability confuses many around her, and this becomes a central part of Tina’s self-discovery later on in the film. Alongside her ability, Tina suffers from facial deformities which makes her an outcast in society.

Tina’s life changes when she meets a man named Vore (Eero Milonoff), who looks just like her. At first, she suspects him of something, but following an inspection, lets him pass through. The two of them have frequent encounters throughout the film, with Vore helping Tina to understand who she is. As she’s embarking on this journey, Tina is assigned to a child pornography case, with the authorities believing her ability can help them find the perpetrator.

Border is dark both in its narrative and its visuals, as you seldom see the sunlight throughout the entire film. It feels gritty, dirty and bleak, reflecting this incredibly harrowing case that Tina has to try and solve. Even her own home is depressing; living in a tiny cabin-like home with a man named Roland who trains dogs. Tina’s relationship with Roland is confusing to the audience, and she barely spends any time at home, opting to take walks outside instead. She is an incredibly lonely, isolated character until Vore comes along.

The film’s visuals really stood out to me, I loved the ethereal fantasy elements even when bad things are happening. Since Tina spends a lot of her time outdoors, her encounters with wildlife and nature are beautifully shot. These moments seem to be the only ones that bring Tina real joy, and the cinematography reflects this. The film’s bleakness can often feel too much at times, but it’s entirely appropriate given the story. Despite Tina’s eventual self-discovery, this is not a happy film.

Tina and Vore’s animalistic behaviour may be uncomfortable for some audiences, and it was for me too. The film relies on long, purely diegetic scenes that bring us closer to the action than we may have liked. Their relationship is raw, functional and sometimes aggressive, often making it difficult to like the characters. Despite this, I still liked Tina as a character and wanted her to find happiness.

Border is just under two hours in length, but feels much longer due to Abbasi’s use of lingering shots. I did find myself feeling a little frustrated with this at times, but the beauty of the cinematography made up for it. The story is as twisted as it is captivating, and by the end of the film you’re left in a stunned silence trying to process what you just saw. It’s the kind of film that leaves you feeling exhausted afterwards.

This happened to be my first real exploration of Nordic cinema, and I’m certainly interested to see what other films are out there. Border is a unique and harrowing story that points fun at Nordic relations, and is certainly worth the watch. Having said that, I’m not sure I could go through it again.

https://jumpcutonline.co.uk/review-border-2019/