UFO Sweden Review: A Bunch Of Swedes Show Hollywood How To Amblin [Fantastic Fest 2023]

In the age of "Stranger Things," everyone wants to make their nostalgia-soaked Amblin-esque movie. And every one of those movies arrives with a wink — Look at us! We're remixing and reheating that thing you love! That makes "UFO Sweden," an out-of-nowhere miracle of a science fiction adventure from the Swedish filmmaking collective Crazy Pictures, all the more satisfying. Everyone in Hollywood wants to capture those Spielberg-ian, those Donner-ian vibes. They lean so hard on the "Remember this thing you loved?" pump that they forget to make something that actually stands alone, capturing the quality that defined that kind of movie while eschewing the obvious trappings.

Leave it to a bunch of uber-talented Swedes to out-Hollywood Hollywood and craft the kind of character-centric adventure that used to be this industry's bread and butter. The 1996 setting of "UFO Sweden" isn't just an aesthetic (even though it is well utilized), but a vivid reminder that movies like this used to be a lot more common, and we want them, need them, more than ever.

"UFO Sweden" doesn't loudly announce its inspirations, but they remain plain as day. And science fiction fans will see the question it wants to answer: What happened to the people left behind when Richard Dreyfuss stepped into that spaceship at the end of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind"? Teenage Denise (Inez Dahl Torhaug, formidable and ready to lead more movies) lives in a foster home, still grappling with the fact that her alien-hunting father vanished eight years earlier, leaving her alone. But the sudden arrival of his long-lost car, plummeting from the sky and through the roof of a barn, sends her on a quest. Is he still alive? And will his old hobby club, the shabby, enthusiastic collective of the film's title, help her find answers?

While the club is full of lovable dorks carved out of familiar archetypes, the film leans on the unlikely relationship between Denise and Lennart (Jesper Barkselius), her father's old buddy whose career was ruined when he helped dad out with his final UFO-chasing scheme. Their growing sense of trust, a surrogate uncle/niece relationship, forms the heart of the film. You're charmed by this crew of amateur engineers and researchers bootstrapping their way through a possible conspiracy, but this dynamic lends "UFO Sweden" its raw heart. Comparison to "Contact" and "Arrival," films that use our relationship with the unknown to explore our relationship with what we know all too well, is earned. Barkselius, wounded and low-key funny, is the ideal foil to Torhaug. The film is named after the team, but these two are the reason you find yourself drawn in.

It's not a spoiler to say "UFO Sweden" isn't a film about evil aliens with malicious intent. Director Victor Danell is working with a gentler kind of magic, a film about curious people doing their best, a story where the adversaries are defined by their own human and frequently humane intentions. There's a lot of action here, all filmed with a clean style that defines the '90s blockbusters that Crazy Pictures so clearly has on their mind, but it's not violent. It's a film with big ideas, but it never feels bloated. It's emotional without being schmaltzy. As the scope increases, one expects it all to fall apart, to lose sight of its characters, and to become indulgent. Instead, the science fiction and the emotion feed each other, make one another stronger, and give this crowd-pleasing adventure an emotional heft. So many well-intentioned throwback genre films let our nostalgia fill in the blanks, and we cry because a film reminds us of something we love. I found myself gently crying during the finale of "UFO Sweden" because I cared deeply about these characters, and how they cared for each other.

There's a part of me that's interested in seeing what Danell and his collaborators at Crazy Pictures can do with a Hollywood production. If left alone, it's clear they could produce work of tremendous value. But the purity of "UFO Sweden," the love that powers every scene, the humor and the character that makes you care beyond recognizing the '90s fashions and saying "Oh, I remember that," makes me hope they stay put. Keep showing everyone else how it's done.

/Film Rating: 8.5 out of 10