The Bridge/Broen/Bron

Posted by: Kevin-W on 06 January 2014

So, is anyone watching it? And what do you think?

Just watched the first two eps, after missing it on Saturday.

I have to say it is utterly magnificent.

The first two episodes were faultless. First of all, there are the two leads, Saga and Martin, from opposite sides of the Øresund Bridge, and opposite sides of the emotional spectrum. But their relationship is deeply touching, and very real. Kim Bodnia and Sofia Helin are just brilliant. And Saga's constant looks of puzzlement are wonderful.

Then there's the way it looks - magnificently gloomy, with gorgeous muted photography and some wonderful compositions (many involving the bridge itself).

There's also humour, mostly involving Saga's emotional coldness and social ineptitude, and her blundering efforts to be "normal" (the forced laughs, immersing herself in textbooks on relationships). I loved the scene where, just after being introduced to some new colleagues, she blithely sniffs her armpits, strolls over to her desk, strips off to her bra and replaces her top with an identical one.

And of course there's the plotting, which is full of tension and will doubtless contain more twists and turns than an Alpine roadway: there are are lot of herrings in the Baltic, and round the Øresund Bridge, most of them are going to be red. You just know that the aptly-named eco-terrorist Mads isn't going to be the real villain, and will probably meet a grisly end by episode five. You just can't second-guess this series. Great score as well.

And finally, there's super Saga, who has to be one of the great fictional characters of the past 20 years.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, TV is where it's at. Cinema, regretfully, is now an infantile medium largely dying on its arse, thanks to a surfeit of elves, superheroes and CGI trickery, and the pre-eminence of hack directors like Jackson and Cameron. But The Bridge, and Borgen and Madmen... Welles, Dreyer, Renoir and Michael Powell would be proud...

I for one cannot wait for next Saturday.

Posted on: 01 February 2014 by Kevin-W

Originally Posted by Lontano:

We were OK though, we were close to the stage and got see the two things we went for

Sofia and Sidse?

Posted on: 01 February 2014 by Lontano

Originally Posted by Kevin-W:

Originally Posted by Lontano:

We were OK though, we were close to the stage and got see the two things we went for

Sofia and Sidse?

You got it, plus Kim and the 911....

Posted on: 01 February 2014 by BigH47

Wow! That was great. See what Salamander can bring us next week.

Might have to catch up with the other ScaNoir series sometime.

Posted on: 01 February 2014 by Lontano

Originally Posted by Kevin-W:

Originally Posted by Lontano:

Roll on number 3.....

God I can't wait.

A long wait. Shooting starts late this year and according to Hans Rosenfeldt, the writer, it will premiere in Sweden/Denmark in September 2015!

Posted on: 02 February 2014 by J.N.

Absolutely superb crime drama. British offerings are simply not in the same league.

If Krister Henriksson won't make any more Wallanders, it would be nice to have the excellent Kim Bodnia playing the character instead of Rolf Lassgard who doesn't do it for me.

Scandi-fans might be interested in this prog on C4 shortly.

John.

Posted on: 02 February 2014 by Blueknowz

Did I fall asleep at some point who was the man in the shadows who shot Gertrude?

Posted on: 02 February 2014 by Lontano

Originally Posted by Blueknowz:

Did I fall asleep at some point who was the man in the shadows who shot Gertrude?

No one knows and it might well stay that way. The writer has not yet decided whether to take that story forward to series 3 yet or not. He was discussing it last night on a post show blog as everyone was asking the same question.

Posted on: 02 February 2014 by GraemeH

Just finished the last two together. As good as it gets. Just stupendous. I'm drained!

Posted on: 03 February 2014 by ChrisH

Thoroughly enjoyable finale, even if a little sad.

Great series, like usual.

Roll on the next Scandi thriller.

They just seem to have an edge to them that others dont seem to capture somehow.

Ill try the Belgian one next Saturday, but Im not so optimistic!

Posted on: 03 February 2014 by JonR

Originally Posted by J.N.:

Absolutely superb crime drama. British offerings are simply not in the same league.

If Krister Henriksson won't make any more Wallanders, it would be nice to have the excellent Kim Bodnia playing the character instead of Rolf Lassgard who doesn't do it for me.

Scandi-fans might be interested in this prog on C4 shortly.

John.

Krister Henriksson has filmed six more Wallander episodes - I think they are due to be broadcast on BBC4 in the Spring.

Amazing ending to The Bridge, this series has been superb throughout. Will be interesting to see how they treat the 'Martin Rohde' character in series 3.

Posted on: 03 February 2014 by JonR

Originally Posted by Lontano:

A fun day at Nordicana today. Dreadfully organised and technical issues galore but once you got used to that it was just a sheer pleasure to listen to Sidse Babett Knudsen chat away about Borgen and the writer Adam Price was fascinating. Pilou Asbaek had a great sense of humour too. Really enjoyable.

Looking forward to a tense finale this evening....

Lucky man, Adrian,

I trust the interviews were a considerable improvement than that served on BBC Breakfast (which I agree was pretty risible) ?

Posted on: 03 February 2014 by Mr Fjeld

Originally Posted by J.N.:

Absolutely superb crime drama. British offerings are simply not in the same league.

That's a bit harsh isn't? I quite liked Broadchurch, and there are lots of other good series such as the Young Morse etc. And then there's Prime Suspect, which in my opinion is perhaps the best crime series ever to be created!

If Krister Henriksson won't make any more Wallanders, it would be nice to have the excellent Kim Bodnia playing the character instead of Rolf Lassgard who doesn't do it for me.

I think this must be another language thing? Rolf Lassgård is the perfect Wallander. Even Henning Mankell said that it was almost as if the books were written with him in mind. If you read the books you'll see that the series with Krister Henriksson misses the "feeling" of the books. It's just another mediocre crime drama. Oh, and the Kenneth Branagh production was just as bad. But each to their own of course.

Posted on: 03 February 2014 by J.N.

"Krister Henriksson has filmed six more Wallander episodes - I think they are due to be broadcast on BBC4 in the Spring."

Now that is good news Jon. Thanks.

John.

Posted on: 03 February 2014 by J.N.

Originally Posted by Mr Fjeld:

Originally Posted by J.N.:

Absolutely superb crime drama. British offerings are simply not in the same league.

If Krister Henriksson won't make any more Wallanders, it would be nice to have the excellent Kim Bodnia playing the character instead of Rolf Lassgard who doesn't do it for me.

I plead guilty to hyperbole Mr Fjeld. I agree - 'Broadchurch' and the young 'Morse' were very good.

Personal preference I guess, but Rolk Lassgard didn't get close to the nuanced performance of Krister Henriksson for me. He just seems to be grumpy all the time.

We can agree on Kenneth Branagh's over-emotional interpretation. Not great. Real hardened crime detectives do not burst in to tears or go into depressive decline.

John.

Posted on: 03 February 2014 by Mr Fjeld

Originally Posted by J.N.:

We can agree on Kenneth Branagh's over-emotional interpretation. Not great. Real hardened crime detectives do not burst in to tears or go into depressive decline.

so true! By the way, if you get the chance you really should give him a second chance and check out another crime series with Lassgård which is called "The Damned/Den fördömde". I'm afraid he's still a bit grumpy and his role is of a rather unsympathetic Psychologist/profiler with countless moral faults. But it's really good! I hope it will be available in UK.