Slim Susie

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Slim Susie
Directed by Ulf Malmros
Produced by Christer Nilson
Written by Ulf Malmros
Petteri Nuottimäki
Starring Tuva Novotny
Jonas Rimeika
Björn Starrin
Kjell Bergqvist
Malin Morgan
Cinematography Mats Olofsson
Distributed by Home Vision Entertainment (HVE)
Sandrew Metronome Distribution Sverige AB
Running time 97 minutes
Language Swedish / English
IMDb profile

Slim Susie (Swedish: Smala Sussie) is a 2003 Swedish gangster comedy. It was directed by Ulf Malmros and written by Malmros and Petteri Nuottimäki.

Contents

[edit] Plot

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Our hero, Erik (Jonas Rimeika), leaves his small town when the local cinema fails to screen the last reel of Pulp Fiction (instead, the theater manager "explains" what happens). After three years in Stockholm, he's forced to return when his little sister, "Slim" Susie (Tuva Novotny) goes missing.

In the opening scene, Erik and friend "Thirteen" (Johan Andersson) appear in mid-flight. The viewers don't know what they are fleeing from. When Erik is cornered by an imposing figure who demands "the whole story", it's time for the flashbacks. Within minutes, Slim Susie resembles that most David Lynchian of plots, a small town rife with hidden corruption. But instead of playing up the menace, director Ulf Malmros goes for the comic jugular. In part, this emerges in character "flips": Susie turns out to be a drug-abusing rock groupie and the local video store owner Gerd (Lena Dahlman) is a legendary crime boss. The only cop in town, Billy Davidson (Kjell Bergqvist), is more interested in covering up illegalities than solving them, while "Grits" the junkie (Björn Starrin) fancies himself the next camcorder auteur, that is, when he's not making homemade wine out of the garbage under his kitchen table.

The film works these disparate individuals into an intricate storyline by way of a satisfyingly kinetic energy. Everyone and everything in Malmros and co-writer Petteri Nuottimäki's universe has a backstory, from a fish-shaped pitcher to a standard-seeming drainpipe. While so much information can cause entertainment overload, the movie repays the attentive viewer. All the characters, all the circumstances, are equally instructive. This challenges our expectations, as a throwaway point comes back to haunt our hero or a seemingly noteworthy situation leads to near irrelevance.

It would be easy for a film as scattered as Slim Susie to lose its focus. And as it openly references films like Scarface, The Usual Suspects, and Reservoir Dogs, we remain on the lookout for possible implausibility in the storytelling. But Malmros delivers something stupendous, a film that leaves you positively giddy. He's helped by the performers, too, especially the beautiful and brave Novotny and Rimeika, who, though he resembles a clued-in Jamie Kennedy, gives Erik a delicate sadness.

But it is Starrin, as "Grits", who walks away with the movie outright. The character is the bridge between Erik and Susie's naïveté and the sinister scandal they all face. Certainly, this joke of a junkie is an asshole, all unbridled Id leaking out of his dirty underpants (his recurrent costume). And yet he's a dreamer, absorbing everything he sees from his rented videos and believing that, he too, will one day be a great filmmaker. Put the two together and you have someone to root for, though he doesn't deserve it. While most of the characters here are flawed, we're eager to see how their interwoven wantonness plays out in the end. Our interest is only intensified by Slim Susie's pop/punk soundtrack, one of the greatest in recent memory.

[edit] Cast

  • Tuva Novotny as Smala Sussie
  • Jonas Rimeika as Erik
  • Björn Starrin as Grits Pölsa
  • Kjell Bergqvist as Billy Davidsson
  • Malin Morgan as Sandra
  • Lotta Tejle as Gudrun
  • Michael Nyqvist as Mörka Rösten
  • Lena Dahlman as Gerd
  • Johan Andersson as Micke Tretton
  • Anders Blomberg as Tore Tumör
  • Nicky Horn as Davidssons fru
  • Bengt Alsterlind as Gunnar
  • Lena Wallman-Alster as Eriks mamma
  • Rolf H. Karlsson as Biografmaskinisten
  • Olle Wirenhed as Konsumägaren Ralf

[edit] Trivia

  • The black and white checkered shoes worn by Erik in the movie are Vans classical slip-ons.

[edit] Mess-Ups

  • When Micke Tretton is telling Erik what has happened, he reveals several things that he has no way of knowing, such as the fact that there is still money left and that Sussie has it.
  • The character "Tore Tumör" was not originally made to be a mute. The real reason is that the actor could not fake the accent.

[edit] Soundtrack

  • "Dirty And Cheap" Performed by Randy
  • "No Right" Performed by Whyte Seeds
  • "Billy The Coach" Performed by Leif Karate
  • "Newfound Lover" Performed by Tuva Novotny
  • "Stupid" Performed by Camela Leierth
  • "Palace Station" Performed by Melody Club
  • "Notes About Freedom" Performed by The Act
  • "Live It Up" Performed by Papa Dee
  • "X-Ray Eyes" Performed by Randy
  • "Hip Teens" Performed by Frank Popp Ensemble
  • "Slow Motions" Performed by Whyte Seeds
  • "Say Oh Say" Performed by Isolation Years
  • "No Place Like Home" Performed by Moses
  • "In The Healing Rain" Performed by Travellers In Time
  • "Perpetuum Mobile" Performed by The Penguin Café Orchestra