Border is a weird little concoction of a movie. Equally creepy, gross, and sweet, Border pushes buttons, then pulls back to reveal something crazier, so you go “Wait, what?” And this happens over and over, until you realize that you’re unsure why you’re continuing to watch Border, but you know you want to see more…
Tina (Eva Melander, not that you’ll recognize her) is a police officer living near a border in Sweden. Blessed/cursed with a chromosome disorder, she’s got a strange-looking face, but also a heightened sense of smell where she can smell feelings on people, meaning she’s great at catching smugglers and criminals at the border. One day, she stops someone like her, a man named Vore (Eero Milonoff), whom Tina is immediately drawn to, finding ways to stop and search Vore until he comes into Sweden for a long period of time. At this point, Tina offers him a chance to stay in her guest house, so she can get to know this mysterious kindred spirit more.
I’m being purposely vague on the details because Border is one of those movies that gets more interesting the more it peels back layers of its story, for the most part. The most successful parts are the weird courtship of Tina from Vore and how Vore teaches Tina about aspects of her life that she knew nothing about. I think most of you can guess at this point the chromosome disorder is probably a lie, but what is actually true is so left field it completely unmoors the story, but in a good way. Border’s storytelling expands because of it, and writer/director Ali Abbasi does a great job sprinkling in very specific details about this world that keep you confused but engaged, some brilliantly so. For example, the strange courtship of Tina/Vore could have been an exercise in being grotesque, but Abbasi wants us to believe in that coupling, so he uses the detective story to lead to an investigation so vile that we look past Tina and Vore’s looks into their hearts, showing that connection to be pure and genuine. This connection then spins into more of a coming of age story for Tina, as she learns more about Vore and people close to her, forcing an identity crisis and inner civil war to take place. At any one point, as you can see, Border blends a love story, a coming of age story, Swedish fantasy, a police investigation, and a crime thriller. Border is not for everyone, but for those willing to roll with the story, there will be some real strange surprises in store for you rolled into a story that can warp into something else at a moments notice.
What makes the Scandanavian writers so fascinating? Lisbeth Salander. Eli from Let The Right One In. And now Tina and Vore. I think it’s cause of the mysteries surrounding the secluded foresty parts of the country that give it this twisted magic that is usually only at home in a Guillermo del Toro Movie. It will definitely make me think twice should I ever end up crossing the Swedish border…