Directed by:
Ali AbbasiCinematography:
Nadim CarlsenComposer:
Martin DirkovCast:
Eva Melander, Eero Milonoff, Jörgen Thorsson, Viktor Åkerblom, Matti Boustedt, Andreas Kundler, Ibrahim Faal, Henrik Johansson, Sten Ljunggren, Ann Petrén (more)VOD (1)
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Tina is a customs agent with a nose for trouble. She can literally smell human emotions, which is a handy talent for sniffing out suspicious border crossers. But when a mysterious male traveller's scent confounds her, she's faced with hugely disturbing insights about who she is and what she wants. (MUBI)
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Reviews (8)
LGBTT..? Nordic noir, supernatural horror, and realism—both magical and social—layered onto a love story and a quest for identity as part of a minority. Ali Abbasi, trolling the audience, designed it this way because practically anything can follow a love story, but it must be strong enough to support it. It’s a pity that the sun didn’t come out during the erotic scene; if it had been a rock, it would have made it even more intense.
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An honest, bizarre festival film, combining dark Scandinavian crime and bestial romance with fantasy mythology. Despite many WTF moments, the film is clearly rooted in our reality and based on multi-layered motifs reflecting current world events, especially regarding the issue of gender and sexual identity and approaches to minorities in society. This genre mix is directed with a firm hand, but in parts it deserves a brisker pace. Nevertheless, its originality, courage and uniqueness are definitely appreciated. And the great masks and acting performances of both title characters.
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Border has a detective storyline that strays into festival-movie bizarreness with diverse thoughtgerms.
Despite what seems like elements of fantasy, we remain firmly rooted in reality, which makes
it all the more frightening and disturbing. The creator calls it “Nordic realism”. It is a psychological,
physical and, in some places, perhaps even repulsive experience for some, but always socially
reflective and comrehensible from all angles. Plus, there’s some comic relief, which is probably
deliberate, but I’m not sure. [Cannes]
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I caught up with this Scandinavian oddity and to my surprise it's decent and recommendable. The story focuses on Tina, who looks weird and is quite creepy, her life is not worth much and she works as a customs officer at an airport. But she has specially developed olfactory abilities and she can smell fear, guilt and other emotions from people, and thanks to that she catches some pedophiles. Her life changes, when she meets Vore, who has a similarly repulsive appearance, and they begin a sort of bizarre romance (the sex scene with them is very repulsive indeed). The film mixes multiple genres, it's interwoven with Norse mythology, it manages to shock (it gets quite intense at the end), and the whole thing is so strange, interesting and novel that I really enjoyed it. Scandinavian weirdness with all the trimmings. 7/10.
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Border is one of the most bizarre pieces I've seen recently. The weirdest genre mash-up you could ever hope for. A Scandinavian fairy tale about two creatures in love at the intersection of the human and supernatural worlds, with a detective plot and a pervasive critique of human society. The makeup artists did a really good and frighteningly convincing job creating one of the most unattractive couples in film history. Also interesting was the concept of troll mythology, which made for more than one WTF moment. It's definitely a noteworthy film, and I can understand any rating for it.
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