A Frugal Swedish Blockbuster - UFO Sweden Reviewed

Images Courtesy Crazy Pictures


There’s a section of southern Sweden that’s famous for its residents being frugal, inventive, and creative. One of the most famous things to come out of this region is IKEA. 


Another company that was founded with this mindset was Crazy Pictures, a film collective that gained attention with short films on Youtube over the last decade. Their popularity and DIY approach helped them to crowdfund their first feature-length film in 2018: Den Blomsterid Nu Kommer (or the English title: The Unthinkable). This film, made on a shoestring budget, was nominated for six Guldbagge Awards (Swedish Oscars) and won the Newcomer of the Year Guldbagge.


Their success led them to secure funding through the Swedish film industry for their second feature, UFO Sweden, a sci-fi film that uses their creative and frugal approach to filmmaking. The result is a moving film that succeeds in creating a blockbuster feel but without the price tag. 


The film begins in the ‘80s with child Denise helping her dad out at UFO Sweden, a ragtag organization dedicated to logging sightings of UFOs. Denise’s dad figures out an equation using weather patterns and data to predict where the next sighting could occur. Without explaining why, he leaves Denise behind and disappears. 


Fast-forward to the ‘90s and Denise (Inez Dahl Torhaug) is a super-intelligent foster teenager known to all the cops in town because of her ‘mischief.’ After her father’s car mysteriously reappears by crash-landing into a barn, she returns to the current iteration of UFO Sweden: five people working in a basement. Denise tries to convince the members to accept her into their society and help her investigate the car. 




There’s so much charm and humor in this movie that it could win over nearly anyone. The film has the awe and wonder of a Spielberg picture and the nostalgia and lens flares of a JJ Abrams film. It also makes judicious use of its budget to create some impressive set pieces and chases. The film lives up to Crazy Picture’s goal of achieving maximum results with limited resources.


Denise works with UFO Sweden’s president, Lennart Svahn (Jesper Barkselius), a disgraced former employee for SMHI (Sweden’s national weather service) who leaked weather data to Denise’s father. Their attempt to figure out her father’s formula leads them back to SMHI where special project manager Kikki (Border’s Eva Melander without all the makeup and prosthetics) is attempting the same. 


The plot evolves in the third act, taking the film in a new direction that not only works, but ties together so many elements of the plot. This new direction becomes integral to many of the characters’ develop and creates an incredibly satisfying ending. 


UFO Sweden is a great step forward for Crazy Pictures and an example of using a limited budget to create a blockbuster experience.