Flugparken (2014) Reviews

• Weak but not all wrong

  Rodrigo_Amaro2015-08-16

  Overcoming a loss isn't anything new in the film territory, there are countless movies on the subject and from time to time something relatively new comes in to give us some thought, some light on how difficult it is to deal with someone's death. Usually they make good solid movies, helping us in trying to understand the process of losing someone you care ("Ordinary People" for instance) or even someone you barely knew (the forgotten "Wetherby") cause in the end there's always an impact on the ones who stay behind. Now "Blowfly Park" could make part of this list of essential pictures on the loss topic. It misses the mark cause it fails to generate interest and it fails to create some coherent story. Back to what I got gathered: Kille (Sverrir Gudnason) is a former hockey player who now just wanders through things doing practically nothing except getting drunk with his best friend Alex (Leonard Terfelt). The latter one is far more crazy with his drunkenness, which leads to his accidental death while looking for a fox, something Kille didn't want to be part of it. He blames himself for leaving his disoriented friend back in the dark wilderness and doesn't reveal to anyone his whereabouts. As far as the police knows, Alex is just missing. The turning point of the story comes when Kille decides to comfort Alex's dad and to get close to Alex's wife and their kid, whom he claims it's his since they both had an on-going affair. With the script focusing on those relationships it would be better, specially if the affair with the woman was more developed, giving the main character a sense of redemption, finding a meaning to his life. Instead, the film prefers to make of Kille an erratic character who is very difficult to relate, going from one stupid action to another while fighting troubled teens who put him in strange and dangerous situations. As the movie progresses, Kille is more worried about getting his robbed bike back than really worrying about his friend's death or about the police inquiries on him. Uncompelling drama with nice touches of a good thriller, "Blowfly Park" has peaks of inspiring moments that easily catches your attention - for the most part it's just tedious. The greatest sequence in the film, also one of the last, involves a confrontation between Alex's father (a genuine performance by Peter Andersson) and Kille in the woods. The desolate setting, the staging, this scene had me on the edge of my seat. Through the whole thing, it's crystal clear that Alex's dad treats the best friend as if he was his own son but at the same time he doesn't trust that Kille is telling everything about Alex's disappearance. Had the movie been presented through the old man's perspective, we would have a solid gold of a movie. He was the character I cared the most. No high hopes before watching and no great disappointment with the final results. That's it. 5/10

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