Videoman

A rare videotape is the catalyst for romance and suspense in this quirky thriller from Swedish director Kristian A Söderström. Stefan Sauk stars as Ennio Midena, an embittered VHS collector who moved to Gothenburg to become the go-to man for 1970s/80s Italian thriller and horror tapes, but is now reduced to avoiding eviction from his basement flat-cum-video library. The solution to his cash problems seems to be the purchase of a valuable copy of Lucio Fulci's Zombie (aka Zombie Flesh Eaters) from 80s fashion victim and divorced dipsomaniac Simone (Lena Nilsson), until he's plunged into his own personal giallo and threatened by a mysterious (and possibly murderous) buyer called Faceless. Lovingly directed and shot in the style of one of Ennio's beloved giallos - trademark purple/pink lighting; a lurking masked menace; insistent synth score - Soderstrom's debut feature affectionately mocks fans of "fat, shiny boxes with animated covers". The merits of Fulci and giallo-king Dario Argento or ordering your collection by director are just some of the things to irk the terminally testy Midena (loosely based on a real-life collector, who cameos as a janitor). Sauk and Nilsson are terrific as the ageing, nostalgia-obsessed lonely hearts, who love a bevvy - a bit too much in Simone's case when she starts the morning by hurling all over the office photocopier. Their on/off relationship remains surprisingly moving and refreshingly authentic, especially when Luddite-like Midena rails against "the digital plague" to Facebook aficionado Lena.