Under The Sun
Picture:
B- Sound: B- Extras: D Film: B-
Proving
that not all films from Sweden are about suicide and existential
dread, Colin Nutley’s Under The Sun
(1998) offers the sad, lonely Olof (Rolf Lassgard) searching for a housekeeper
after years of living alone after the death of his mother. Set in 1956, he is interested in meeting
someone and decides this may be a way to solve this, though his place does need
some work. Little of that is being
helped by the gambling, sneaky Erik (Johan Widerberg), who is more interested
in investing in high stakes horse gambling and was once a sailor. He also does, in a telling thing about his
character, gravedigging.
After
putting an ad in the newspaper, despite a nosy local priest (that the film
thankfully minimalizes), he waits a bit and in arrives Ellen (Helena
Bergstrom), who immediately goes in and starts fixing things. Erik sees her as a threat and also tries to
seduce her, but the money is his main issue.
The set up is somewhat conventional and Nutley does some interesting things with
it, but he becomes too distracted sometimes and opportunities are lost. The side character of a younger girl Erik
seduces could have been better developed to offer exposition of this world and
its people, but is cut too short. Nutley co-wrote the adaptation of H.E.
Bates’ The Little Farm with Joanna
Hald and David Neal, so he is responsible for what is here starting on the
screenplay pages.
This is
still a film I enjoyed more than not, but when all was said and done, I felt
like the film never really finished what it had started. There is some eroticism, but visual jokes on
the subject backfire (especially a moment with two horses), and this undercuts
both the tension and impact of what cast and director do manage to pull
off. Too bad they could not find a
focus.
The
anamorphically enhanced 2.35 x 1 image was shot by cinematographer Jens Fischer
and moodily captures the farm where Olof lives.
Fine details can be a problem, but this is a nice transfer, likely from
a PAL master. This stays more in tact
than expected and offers some beautiful images to go along with the
narrative. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
has good Pro Logic surrounds, but this time, instead of being off of their A or
SR theatrical sound or even a tradedown form 5.1 AC-3, it is from DTS 4.0
analog sound. No wonder it sounds so
good. The system was DTS’ way of
competing against the SR system while introducing their superior 5.1 digital
sound to theaters. Though it is just as
good, DTS analog is not employed as often for the rare non-digital release as
the two Dolby versions are. This
demonstrates again how good it can be.
Paddy Malone’s music score is a plus.
The only extra is a trailer for this film and a few others from the New
Yorker DVD slate.
All in
all, I am still glad I saw the film, which is about as much of an interesting
failure as you are going to see without it being a waste of time. Nutley has these actors on many of his
films and the chemistry is there. Though
you can do better, you could also do far worse than Under The Sun.
- Nicholas Sheffo
