Gitarrmongot

 

Gitarrmongot (Guitar Mongoloid) 2004

• Director: Ruben Östlund
• Seen by this director: Turist
• Based on book: no
• Cast: many unknown
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• All unknown
• Why?  Ruben Östlund
• Seen:  6 June 2023 

Today is Sweden’ National Day. We pretend it’s a big deal with festivals all over the country but it’s only about twenty years old. Some clever person/persons were envious of other countries who had patriotic reasons to celebrate the nation and decided that we needed one too even though we have no dramatic liberation to commemorate. We had to dig back 500 years to when Gustav Vasa was elected king on 23 June 1523, which is generally regarded as the beginning of the Swedish state. To avoid granting the workers too many days off, Whitsuntide was removed as a holiday to make way for National Day, which I admit is better than an obscure Christian holiday. I’m just patriotic enough to choose a Swedish film and what’s more Swedish in the film world these days than Ruben Östlund? This is his first film.

Called by some a pseudo-documentary, it offers a series of vignettes of various unconnected character. Hoodlums tossing stolen bikes in the lake or breaking streetlights. Drunks playing Russian roulette. Boys who pause playing bandy to do synchronised Hitler salutes. A young couple joking about if they would love one another if their appearances changed. A twelve-year-old boy busking, very badly, on the streets of Gothenburg.

For some reason, these simple sad, meaningless little stories are quite captivating.

Happy Sweden Day. 

3* of 5