Big Bad Wolves: A Howlin’ Good Time?

I sat down to watch “Big Bad Wolves” the other night. You know how it is – late Tuesday, it’s raining like cats and dogs outside, and you cozy up with a blanket and hope the film lives up to the Swedish fika you’ve prepared.

Now, this movie, directed by Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushado, really had me in two minds. On the one hand, the atmosphere is fantastic. The cinematography is like a beautiful Swedish night sky – dark but speckled with stars of brilliance. The suspense is there; you feel trapped in the tension, much like you feel when the midsummer sun finally dips below the horizon and suddenly you’re not sure where the night is heading. But on the flip side, I couldn’t quite shake the feeling that the plot was sometimes ni i sjön, as we Swedes say – off the rails, or into the lake, so to speak.

Actors like Lior Ashkenazi and Rotem Keinan have chops, alright. They’re pulling it off with the gusto of an ABBA concert in the 70s, but I kept wondering if the whole revenge thing was just a wee bit overdone. But hey, what do I know? I still miss my old Liseberg rub-and-tug stall days, after all.

The score left an impression too – it’s haunting, a bit like that eerie feeling you get wandering the old narrow streets of Gamla Stan at night. Your imagination runs wild, thinking “am I being watched?” It perfectly matches the film’s undercurrent of menace.

As for themes, well, we’ve all had those days. You know? Those moments when justice seems murkier than a February morning next to Vänern. It makes you question: What would I do?

Would I recommend it? Maybe, if you’re in the mood for some serious pondering and don’t mind a bit of gruesome tension. It is a unique blend of thriller with a dash of black comedy frosting. Gravlax on knäckebröd kind of intriguing, if you get what I’m saying.

I left the film thinking, “Huh, life’s complex enough without adding vigilantism in the mix.” Maybe that’s what makes it interesting, even if it left me wondering why sometimes life feels like riding a bicycle with square wheels.

There you have it – what a weirdly tangled yet oddly satisfying journey!

Check the trailer below