Sustained Criticism

I saw the new Norwegian film Switch with Gina a week or so ago, and was inspired to write something about the state of the nation's films. Switch is Karate Kid on snowboard, with mentor, beat-up kid in a new city and sickeningly happy ending. Though the snowboard scenes were pretty enjoyable, Stormare fun with his popsicles (not findesicles, sadly) and hippie/Miss Sunshine car, it was so predictable I could most probably have seen the first and final minutes, and figured what had happened. What possessed someone to make this?

The Swedes make quirky, arty films along the lines of Du levanda - consisting of stylised, very theatrical scenes about life, the universe and everything. The Swedes have Lindgren and wonderful films, and we have Switch and Hennie (though I must begrudgingly respect him for his thoughtful Hamlet) running around and around Oslo. Perhaps film industries go through a crysalis of bad films, a collective infancy, before we move on to interesting films. Maybe I should just view my viewing of Switch as a contribution to the betterment of Norwegian film?