Gentlemen

This is a famous book from the late 70s by Klas Östergren. It can still be read as living literature and is perhaps the big monument over life in Stockholm during that decade. Mysteries, people with a past, people with no future.

Östergren has written the script for this film, but that stands back for the visual. They have really tried to recreate the 70s, but we who were part of it, as almost always, find good details but not the mood and the spirit of the period.

The sad thing is that the novel anyway is almost more visual than the film which is reduced to a story among others. Which is a pity.

If you're here because you enjoy the cinema, you will certainly like the story but also the way it's told. The characters, historical context and acting are both intriguing and convincing. Actually, I decided to write these few lines after I read the few reviews not doing justice to this film. Hence my first line: cinema is cinema and novel is novel. I can understand the frustration of novel readers but also I can't help asking what their opinion would have been if they had not read the novel. Not having read the book, I had the chance to appreciate the film in its own values. Whether it's a good or poor adaptation should be a separate discussion.