"Before you came to me,my friend,the world was only grey and empty."

morrison-dylan-fan

For the final title in my run of 50's Nordic cinema (1950-1959) reviews, I dug deep into my downloads,and found a film I had forgotten about getting! Trying to play it a few days ago,I kept finding the subtitles refusing to synch up. Searching on how to fix them,I ended up stumbling on a new file of the flick, which led to me becoming the wild one.

View on the film:

Hanging in the back seat as the guys drive round for some cherries to pop, writer/director Olle Hellbom picks a rough and ready Punk Noir atmosphere off from the streets, gathering all the rebellious youth in a cramped cafe that Hellbom pans the camera across the cafe, capturing the cramped, pent-up tension between each gang.

Rocking Bibban between Roffe and Lasse, Hellbom rides them out to a shattering doom-laden final ride with excellent, drenched in shadow close-ups of Bibban eyeing her transformation from pretty young thing into a drained Femme Fatale, being seated next to the rogue, ruthless youthfulness of Roffe being pelted with lines of white lights unzipping each of his rough edges.

Unbuckling all the gangs hanging outside the cafe working on their cars/bikes, the screenplay by Hellbom superbly kicks-starts the troubled relationship between Roffe and Bibban with the spike of the youthful rebellion frustrations of the era, as Roffe hits out at anyone who tries to put limits on him, and becomes growing abusive over Bibban saying no.

Wonderfully contrasting the abrasiveness of Roffe, Hellbom gives the growing bond between Bibban and Lasse a sweet teenage innocence, sparkling in the crisp dialogue between the pair in car rides, driving towards love, before being taken by Roffe off the tracks. Hit by rocks of those who want to knock her down,Christina Schollin gives a outstanding Femme Fatale performance as Bibban, thanks to Schollin wearing a flirting, knife-edge rebellion streak, with a underlying romantic warmth for Lasse,away from the wild one.

score 9/10

morrison-dylan-fan 21 April 2020

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw5660477/