An architect (Neneh Cherry) skips her lecture on Swedish architecture and wanders around Stockholm coming to terms with a fatal road accident she was involved in a year ago.
There is only one character, who speaks predominantly as a voice over. This is varied by interludes of Swedish music, including songs by Cherry herself, whose pleasing voice lends itself to narration. In turns, she explains Stockholm's notable buildings, recounts the story of the accident, and muses philosophically, as one does on long walks.
The film lacks not only plot, but purpose. We learn little about Stockholm, and the philosophising is shallow and leads nowhere, though the film is the better for not trying to put over any particular political or moral point. Stockholm does not look particularly attractive, and the music is not memorable. There is, however, something about the film that has stayed with me: a sense of place, and of love for that place, and beauty in the mundane; the idea that whatever you look closely at seems to look back at you. Perhaps we do not look at our surroundings closely enough.
This is not a film for everyone, or indeed for anyone not in the mood for a guided cinematic meditation set in a rather bleak urban environment. If you don't 'get' slow cinema (yes, that is a thing) then this is not for you.
There is only one character, who speaks predominantly as a voice over. This is varied by interludes of Swedish music, including songs by Cherry herself, whose pleasing voice lends itself to narration. In turns, she explains Stockholm's notable buildings, recounts the story of the accident, and muses philosophically, as one does on long walks.
The film lacks not only plot, but purpose. We learn little about Stockholm, and the philosophising is shallow and leads nowhere, though the film is the better for not trying to put over any particular political or moral point. Stockholm does not look particularly attractive, and the music is not memorable. There is, however, something about the film that has stayed with me: a sense of place, and of love for that place, and beauty in the mundane; the idea that whatever you look closely at seems to look back at you. Perhaps we do not look at our surroundings closely enough.
This is not a film for everyone, or indeed for anyone not in the mood for a guided cinematic meditation set in a rather bleak urban environment. If you don't 'get' slow cinema (yes, that is a thing) then this is not for you.