Event

The Guitar Mongoloid

In Case of No Emergency: The Films of Ruben Östlund

Feb 05

(2004, Sweden, 35mm, 89 min)

Thursday, Feb 05 at 07:00PM
Thursday, Feb 05 at 09:00PM

Östlund's feature debut is set in Jöteborg, a fictional Swedish city resembling the director's own hometown of Göteborg (Gothenburg). His focus is on outsiders and nonconformists, in particular the titular musician, a young man facing dire obstacles in life.

The mostly non-professional cast brings a documentary quality to this loosely scripted communal portrait, wrought with compassion and touches of humor. Winner of the FIPRESCI Prize at the 2005 Moscow International Film Festival, The Guitar Mongoloid is shot in typical Östlund fashion, with an observant camera capturing life from fixed positions.

Screens with:
Autobiographical Scene Number 6882
(2005, Sweden, 35mm, 9 min)

A young man boasts to friends that he will jump from a high bridge into the river below, then begins to have second thoughts. This penetrating short presages Östlund's Involuntary for its illustration of peer pressure and Force Majeure for its critique of the fragile male psyche.

Part of our series In Case of No Emergencyget a series pass and see all of Östlund's films at a discount: $35 ($20 for Film Forum Members) >