Search - Keillers Park on DVD

Powerful Drama

Amos Lassen | Little Rock, Arkansas | 05/14/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

""Keillers Park"

Powerfyl Drama

Amos Lassen and Cinema Pride

It is no surprise that movies are getting bolder and Susanna Edwards in her frist full length feature "Keillers Park" (TLA Releasing) holds nothing back. In her movie which is based on real events she tells the story of a murder which occurred in Keiller's Park in Sweden. But this is not just a story of a murder; it is a tale of intolerance and the difficulties of breaking patterns of behavior and how a person feels afterwards. Love comes when it is least expected and Edwards shows the reaction to it.
Peter, it seems, has a very promising future. He is starting his own family with his attractive girlfriend and is about to take over the family business from his father. He feels that life has been good to him and that he has everything he could hope for. Then, quite by surprise, his eyes meet the eyes of another and everything changes. He falls in love with another man, Nassim, and it is a deep and powerful love--one that cannot be dismissed easily.
Nassim and Peter develop a relationship while riles the tempers of members of Peter's family and his friends become highly upset. The "Peter" that they knew is no more and the new "Peter" is trying to break out and claim his new lifestyle. Nassim wants openness and to be able to publicly declare their love while Peter is caught up in a struggle against his conservative upbringing and his friends and family. Things come to a head when the police storm into Peter's apartment and arrest him for the murder of Nassim.
This is not a pretty story but it is a great movie. It is similar to those movies that were made once about "the love that dare not speak its name". "Keillers Park" also gives us a look at Sweden and the way the country regards homosexuality. There was a time when gay themed movies ended with a death and/or a suicide but with the liberation movement and more public acceptance, things changed and gay movies have come into their own. Here is a throwback to the old days and while the story is not pretty, it does show how we are still forced to live and behave in certain countries. Powerfully acted and filmed in the "noir" style, here is a movie that will make you sit up and take notice. It is interesting in that we do not get a lot of movies about the way we live from Sweden and here is one that shows intolerance and non-acceptance. Are we not lucky to have wheat we have, even though it is not quite enough?
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A Story of Sexual Awakening

Grady Harp | Los Angeles, CA United States | 07/02/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"KEILLERS PARK is a moody film noir from Sweden, a story by Pia Gradvall directed by Susanna Edwards that approaches the frequently told fears and joys of sexual coming out in a stylish and inventive way. It is a film that embellishes a fine script with creative camera work, sensitive use of flashbacks to peel the onion of the story's meaning, and employs some very fine actors who keep the drama electrified.

Peter (Mårten Klingberg) is a successful thirty-something son of a wealthy engineer who stands to inherit his family business and who is engaged to a beautiful artist Maria (Karen Bergquist). At a gathering Peter notices a handsome Algerian Nassim (Pjotr Giro) and senses feelings of sexual awareness he has not known. Nassim is a happy, popular, comfortably gay man who pursues the looks exchanged. When Maria leaves town for a concert Peter and Nassim meet in Keiller Park and begin an erotic love affair: both men genuinely fall in love and the expression of their first physical encounter is one of the most subtle yet wholly erotic on film.

Peter's involvement with Nassim affects his work, results in his father disowning him as he embraces the gay life, pushes Maria out of his life, and leaves him unemployed and alone except for Nassim. The story abruptly changes when the police breakdown Peter's door and arrest him for the murder of Nassim! Peter sits with the interrogators at the police station and in his shock that Nassim is dead, unfolds the whole story of their relationship. The secrets of Peter's life and the question as to Nassim's motivations and possible continued existence mold the resolution of the story in a manner that has explored all the highs and lows of new love and the consequences of entering a life that is intolerable to the outside world.

Both Pjotr Giro and Mårten Klingberg as the lovers offer highly nuanced performances and the supporting cast is very strong. Director Edwards has a sophisticated style not only with her actors, but also with her eye for atmosphere and pacing, using techniques of black and white for special moments and glowing warm lighting for the erotic scenes. She manages to allow us to see both sides of the 'coming out' consequences in a mature manner. KEILLERS PARK is a fine art house movie. In Swedish with English subtitles. Grady Harp, July 07
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Keillers Park

bigboyone | johnson city , tn | 12/05/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"this is a wonderfull and tragic film.
life can through some curves for the best of us
excellent portrails by the leading actors
you will enjoy their work"