Harry Munter (1969)

Harry Munter, a sensitive, kind, appealing man in his twenties, lives with his parents. He's an inventor, a bit of a mystic, maybe a genius, and a good son and grandson. He's offered work ... See full summary »

Director:

Kjell Grede

Writer:

Kjell Grede

Stars:

Jan Nielsen, Carl-Gustaf Lindstedt, Gun Jönsson

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Credited cast:
Jan Nielsen	...	Harry Munter
Carl-Gustaf Lindstedt	...	Valle Munter
Gun Jönsson	...	Gudrun Munter
Georg Adelly	...	Manne
Alan Simon	...	Mr. Burne
Elina Salo	...	Lonely Woman
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Märta Allan-Johnson	...	Grandma
Gerda Calander	...	Kristina Birgitta Eleonor
Inga Dahlbeck	...	Girl #1
Britt Marie Engstroem	...	Girl #2
Marie-Louise Mark	...	Flickor vid järnvägsspåret
Palle Westerlund	...	Grim

Storyline

Harry Munter, a sensitive, kind, appealing man in his twenties, lives with his parents. He's an inventor, a bit of a mystic, maybe a genius, and a good son and grandson. He's offered work in the U.S. But a friend has cancer and the world is changing in ways that provoke profound sadness.

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Plot Keywords:

inventor | teenager | self discovery | intelligence | extramarital affair | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

Sweden

Language:

Swedish

Release Date:

20 December 1969 (Sweden)

Also Known As:

Harry Munter - nuoren miehen tie

Filming Locations:

Copenhagen Airport, Kastrup, Copenhagen, Denmark

Company Credits

Production Co:

Sandrews

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Edited into Short cuts från Sandrews (1999)

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Soundtracks

"Symphony No. 9 in E minor, From the New World, Op. 95, B. 178"
Music by Antonín Dvorák

User Reviews

Pretentious muddle of wasted talent

This is the kind of movie that aggravates me because it's a classical-themed story with potential to engage: Young man/bohemian drifter Harry, living with his parents, gives up his professional talent for engineering, including a chance to move to America, to stay with friends and family he cares about.

Made in the late '60s, it's clearly inspired by French New Vave that many a critic obviously deemed poetic/avant-garde. I call it a pretentious, sloppy muddle because it fails frustratingly through unfocused, jumpy storytelling by popping characters in-and-out that have no emotional connection to its audience (but somehow yet finds time for long, pointless scenes). The finale with the little boy poking our hero with a ski pole... plus his "spiritual" - well, poorly disguised Christian dream, had me sarcastically laughing and shaking my head.

Is Harry really a talented inventor? Or is he a humanist do-gooder who wastes his gift, because he truly cares for and helps ordinary people instead? There's no way to tell, because I'm not shown or told any of this enough to be convinced. There's so much choppy character interplay that nowhere near underlines its protagonist's increasingly exasperating, dead-pan actions. For that reason, I stop caring - and that's a cardinal sin for any movie (although the airport scenes do hold a bit of dramatic interest).

To me this is simply bad movie-making that's not even visually compensative enough to excuse its oh-so-apparent artistic ambitions. Also: is it intentionally filmed at a construction site-suburb-to-be to convey any symbolic message? You tell me! Is this seriously considered a classic, top-Swedish movie? Bah.

3 out of 10 from Ozjeppe.