More Nordic Noir musings

Over the past few days we've watched four of the movies that are linked together in English releases as Crimes of Passion. They are individual crime stories set in a beautiful part of Sweden in the 1940s/1950s. In feel they are bit like Miss Marple and star Tuva Novotny and Ola Rapace.

Now they are very enjoyable but we were looking for the darker side of Nordic drama - the real out and out noir and these were a bit lightweight. That and we wanted to watch the arc story of the kind that was done so well in both the Killing and the Bridge. These Crimes of Passion are single stories.

So we have left the last two for a later time and we opted tonight for the Spider (Edderkoppen in Danish). This is a six part crime series made in 2000 and set in 1949 Copenhagen. It's a tale of organised crime and police corruption and the reporters trying to get to the truth of the situation.

We watched the first three tonight and we're hooked. It's as gritty as hell, wonderfully well written, acted and directed. It is a little strange seeing all the actors like Lars Mikkelson who we've been watching in shows from more than a decade after this. They all look so young. But this is another firmly in the YES pile for anyone who wants to watch some Scandinavian drama.

The Crimes of Passion series is good too - but only if you prefer everything a little more wholesome.

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