Zingo (1998)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

Director:

Christjan Wegner

Writers:

Matthew Allen (adaptation)
Santiago Gil (writer)

Release Date:

20 November 1998 (Sweden)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

Zingo är redo för Svenssonlivet, men är Svensson redo för Zingo?

Plot:

A comedy about a young man with a tendency to screw things up. After years of unhealthy living he is looking for calm and rest...

Plot Keywords:

Debt | Drugs | Masturbation | Meta Film | Motorcycle

Cast

Björn Kjellman	...	Filip Singstedt aka Zingo
Helena af Sandeberg	...	Barbro aka Baby
Per Morberg	...	Mos
Thomas Hellberg	...	Ken Karlsson
Tommy Andersson	...	Jocke
Jarmo Mäkinen	...	Puda
Madeleine Elfstrand	...	Bittan
Hans Henriksson	...	Benno, film producer
Kjell Lennartsson	...	Zingo's Dad
Matthew Allen	...	Wolfgang, German film producer
Maria Lindström	...	Tina, porn actress
Charlotte Allen	...	Lina, porn actress
Niklas Falk	...	Rune, Baby's father
Catherine Hansson	...	Margareta
Martin Forsström	...	Guy standing in line behind Jocke (as Martin Forström)

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

Sweden

Language:

Swedish

Color:

Color

Certification:

Sweden:11

Filming Locations:

Fågel Blå, Skeppargatan 60, Östermalm, Stockholm, Stockholms län, Sweden

Company:

Stærmose, Søren AB

Trivia:

One of the first films that had a complete digital intermediate made for digital color correction at 2K resolution.

Quotes:

Benno: The Germans like Scandinavian film. What could be more Scandinavian than a horny moose?

Movie Connections:

References Viskningar och rop (1972)

Soundtrack:

MONDAY, MONDAY

Great dialogue and supporting cast

Björn Kjellman is, as always solid, in the title role. But what really lift this film is the supporting cast. Newcomer Tommy Andersson is a find as the aggressive Jocke. Thomas Hellberg plays the former star Ken Karlsson. Hellberg does something of a the performance of his career. The underrated Per Morberg is fabulous as the struggling director Mos. All three gives Guldbagge worthy performances. Unfortunately it disappeared in the shadow of many other successful Swedish films 1998.

Mos makes porn films for producer Benno (played by Hans Henriksson, who's a lot of fun). But Mos dreams of something else. He wants to do a serious film out of script he's been writing for five year called Den bruna filmen (The Brown Film). Benno isn't interested, but his cousin Zingo - who wants to leave his wild days behind him a live a normal life - is. With Zingo producing they decide to make Den bruna filmen. But Benno and his German partner who are financing it, think they are doing a trailer for a porno called Kingsize starring Ken Karlsson and a moose. (Zingo got to do the trailer to get more money for the real film, but Ken doesn't know anything about it).

The films lowest assets is the character of Puda (Jarmo Mäkinen), the drug-dealing biker and cineast. It's a character we recognize from many American films from this decade. I think that the serious scenes between Zingo and his father feels misplaced. The films foremost assets is its supporting cast and the dialogue (see the quotes, which I contributed). Wegner's direction is fine and the shape of Zingo works well, the editing with jump cuts suits. The photography is medium flashy, but with too much strobe in some scenes for my taste.