Opowieści smartfonowe: strategie autorskie w filmach Rubena Östlunda
Smartphone Stories: Author’s Strategies In the Films of Ruben Östlund

Summary/Abstract: The film work of Ruben Östlund seems to be one of the most interesting exemplifications of systemic, thematic and formal changes that took place in the Swedish cinema in the 21st century. The images of the director of “The Tourist” and “The Square” disturb the perceptive habits of viewers, escape easy film classifications and accurately comment on many of the current problems. With their liminal form, they not only reveal the insufficiency of thinking about the contemporary world and filmmaking in terms of binary categories, but also tend to recognize the relativity of popular judgements, beliefs and methodologies. What is more, thanks to the fluidity of the form and the ambiguous subject, the interpretations of Östlund’s creativity are not limited only to voyeuristic attempts to look at the banality and insincerity of human behaviour and criticism of the Swedish welfare system and the neo-liberal policy of the European Union. On closer examination they may in fact also be taken for a more intimate form of philosophical reflection on the spiritual and intellectual condition of modern man.

• Details
• Contents