Director: Patrik Eklund
Original Title: Flimmer
Language: Swedish

Main Cast: Kjell Bergqvist, Allan Svensson, Jacob Nordenson, Anki Larsson, Olle Sarri, Jimmy Lindström

There’s something going on in the small town of Backberga. The town’s proud telecom company Unicom is just about to launch a new modern profile when they discover that there’s something lurking in the outskirts of Backberga. An accident triggers a power failure, which leads to a chain of events, mishaps and love stories.

Writer/director Patrik Eklund’s deadpan comedy not only packs in the laughs at regular intervals, it also hits you in the gut every now and then, such is the emotion invested in his haphazard characters. Set in a small, rather non-descript Swedish town dominated by Unicom – the giant communications company at the heart of it – Flicker depicts the lives of several employees at the company after a mysterious electrical accident.

Kenneth, a mid-level employee who’s responsible for producing the company’s quarterly reports, is perhaps the closest thing we have to a central protagonist in this interweaving narrative of comic misery. Repeatedly attempting to save and print a report to show the board members, he is beset by a Monty Python-like series of unfortunate and unlikely events which thwart his every attempt at progress. A stylish and fluid composition adds a distanced irony to the events, with neat transitions and roving camerawork often linking the differing narrative strands. – Robert Munro, Eye for Film.

Eklund’s left field style – think Wes Anderson with a sprinkle of Jean-Pierre Jeunet – is so packed full of inventiveness and unpredictable twists that all you can do is hang on for the ride. This is a genuine cinematic treat: creative, engaging and wholly satisfying.

TV Bomb