Neon
The mysterious land of Scandinavia is an odd one. Filled with Norse myths, dwarves, gruffs, trolls, and very white people. It is a dark and cold place, but there can be beauty in the silence. I was a folklore obsessed kid, and I loved reading my books of Scandinavian folklore — and all the others too, but still. Swedish movies often have dark, cold themes, but they rarely forget about the people.
Border comes from director Ali Abbasi, from a script including and based on a short story by John Lindqvist. It is a Swedish movie, of course. The movie stars Eva Melander as Tina, a customs security agent at some port of entry. Tina has an unusual skill, bordering on mystical — she can sense or ‘smell’ when people are guilty or angry or ashamed. Thus she is the perfect border agent, with an impeccable (if uncanny) record.
Tina also has a live-in boyfriend (Jörgen Thorsson), a dog trainer who is friendly enough, but has difficulty that Tina never seems to want to be intimate. There’s also Tina’s father (Sten Ljunggren) who she dotes on, visiting in his assisted living facility while he slowly loses his mind. But there’s something else immediately noticeable about Tina — she has a sort of almost caveman like appearance, with smashed features and a heavy brow.
She is ‘difficult’ to look at, one might say, which is naturally difficult for her because people are always staring. But otherwise her life is going well enough, and then she helps uncover a potential pedophilia ring during one security pass through. As this investigation begins, another unusual event occurs. A man (Eero Milonoff) comes through security, looking eerily like Tina, and with (as she will find out) oddly similar scars.
The man’s name is Vore, and Tina has an instant, mysterious connection to him that she cannot explain. But as they connect, Tina discovers the secrets of her own past, uncovering questions about morality and where she really fits in in the world. The theme is omnipresent of Tina as the outsider, but in a way that ponders the nature of human morality. It’s a classic sort of Swedish question.
Border is an odd duck of a movie, certainly, with kind of a slow start, and an off-putting surreal energy to help the audience get pulled into a world that is not quite our own. There are scenes of a fairly graphic nature, but other things get carefully censored and sanitized. Tina goes through an arc of discovery, self-awareness, and self-doubt before she reaches her own epiphanies.
This is the sort of movie that takes a while to get going but is quite engaging once you realize there’s a plan and a mystery to solve. The actual mystery is fairly clever for what it is, in a fantastical, horrifying way. There are a lot of plot threads and style choices here, and some work better than others. The noir elements aren’t quite as interesting as the movie would prefer, while the romance is difficult to connect with on both ends.
But the lead performance from Eva Melander, trapped under layers of makeup and prosthetics, is quite impressive, revealing vulnerability and strength in turn as we get a chance to understand who Tina really is. Eero Milonoff has a very stylized, creepy energy that I’m not sure is quite intentional, but perhaps it was — he has a swaggering, confident style with his own makeup that complements Tina’s more subtle energy.
Overall, this is an indie movie that has a small circle of appeal, but I suspect it has enough interesting thematic content that it will be a pleasant discovery by some future film student or folklore enthusiast.
Border has a run time of 1 hour 50 minute and rated R for some sexual content, graphic nudity, a bloody violent image and language.
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