OVP: As It Is In Heaven (2004)

Film: As It Is in Heaven (2004)
Stars: Michael Nyqvist, Frida Hallgren, Helen Sjoholm, Lennart Jahkel, Ingela Olsson, Niklas Falk
Director: Kay Pollak
Oscar History: 1 nomination (Best Foreign Language Film-Sweden)
Snap Judgment Ranking: 1/5 stars

With the OVP for me, there is one category that stands out as almost always a "you're going to have to see all five" when it comes to catching up on a new year, and that's Foreign Language Film.  We're now done with the 2004 lineup (some of the films will get reviews in the coming days, though not all of them as I haven't seen some of them particularly recently), but past 2004, I actually have to go to 2000 before I've seen even one of the nominees, and that's only one.  This isn't because I avoid foreign language film, and it isn't necessarily even because I don't watch foreign films from that time frame.  Instead, it's because Oscar the further you go back on foreign-language film...develops a bit of a banality issue.  Foreign language film from every decade can be vibrant and vital, but up until maybe the past 10 years or so, this category had struggled since the 1970's to come up with truly revolutionary titles.  This is also occasionally an issue with Oscar's Best Pictures, but not to the same degree.  And one of these pictures is As It Is In Heaven, a pretty staid look at a small-town changed forever by an angry music composer.

(Spoilers Ahead) The story here is of Daniel (Nyqvist), a brilliant composer known for his foul temper, who randomly has a heart attack, and is basically told that he needs to rest & retire or else he will not be long for this world.  For some reason he chooses his hometown, where he was once bullied incessantly, even though they don't remember him from his time in the village.  The villagers, like most in a small town would, become fascinated with the new celebrity, and recruit him to direct the local church choir, with mixed opinions.  People like the pastor Stig (Falk), worry he is corrupting  the local community (Stig is in a passion-free marriage with his wife, and basically considers even marital sex to be a sin), while others like Lena (Hallgren) are smitten with him, and indeed Lena & Daniel start dating.

The problem with the film isn't that it's not occasionally cute (it is), but that it's never as cute, daring, or deep as it thinks it is.  The movie's focus on these people's lives frequently swings dramatic out-of-nowhere, and we are almost always given quick resolutions to major problems.  Lena, for example, randomly gets jealous of Daniel late in the movie, and it feels more expository than in her actual character.  The film's center seems to be not Daniel, but instead Gabriella, a local woman who is abused relentlessly by her husband, but we learn nothing about Gabriella other than she can sing.  It feels, like almost every character in the film, quite two-dimensional & not worth our time.

The film almost could work not because it's banal, but because the ending is so weird.  The film ends with Daniel having a second heart attack, and seemingly dying in a bathroom almost out-of-nowhere, and the choir still singing without him, with the crowd joining in.  It's such a weird, unusual ending to the film that feels neither like a twist nor an absolution, that it's almost like the writers wrote the ending first, came up with a story that didn't really match, but weren't willing to let go of the ending.  It's weird, but also absolutely terrible-I rewound the DVD five minutes for fear I'd missed something crucial, but no, it's just a left field ending to a movie that didn't have enough foundation for such a curveball.