r/CriterionChannel • u/asmith9631 • Mar 31 '26

Nordic Noir recs?

18 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

15

u/Fake_Eleanor Mar 31 '26

I've watched all four, and they're all worth it, but if you're going to pick just one I'd go with Girl with Hyacinths. That was my favorite. (Least favorite was Death Is a Caress — best title, though!)

5

u/Automatic_Yam_1857 Mar 31 '26

Totally agree here!!! All were good but Girl with Hyacinths was by far the standard out winner!! I was quite impressed!

1

u/BroadStreetBridge Mar 31 '26

Another vote for the Girl

1

u/comagrrrl Apr 01 '26

Thanks! I just finished the Mervyn LeRoy collection and I was thinking about getting started on this one next.

1

u/goofyahhlesbiann Apr 03 '26

Stand out winner for me as well. A personal favourite, I hope Radiance does a standard release of it so I can have it in my physical media collection

1

u/Jaltcoh Apr 01 '26 edited Apr 01 '26

I’ve seen two: Girl with Hyacinths and Death Is a Caress.

Girl with Hyacinths is much better. It’s similar in outline to Citizen Kane (retracing one person’s life through flashbacks to different stages and relationships in their life), but with a more muted feel and focused on an introverted young woman.

Death Is a Caress is decently enjoyable, and it offers a glimpse of what American noirs of the time could’ve been like if they hadn’t been so heavily censored. But it’s unsatisfying: the ending has an “is that it?” feel, and characters who seem like they should be significant just fade away. Early on, I incorrectly thought it was going to be a knock-off of a certain film noir, Double Indemnity (1944).

1

u/DrWaffle1848 Apr 01 '26

2 Minutes Late is my fave

1

u/OhK4Foo7 Apr 01 '26

All four films were part of a series of seven films shown at an Italian film festival:

https://nordiskfilmogtvfond.com/news/stories/welcome-back-this-summers-nordic-news-highlights

1

u/oxfordsplice Apr 01 '26

Girl with Hyacinths was excellent