LFO (2013)

There's a decadent fantasy here and the audience might just want to relate or vicariously share the main character's enjoyment of his power. And the film is also just original and quirky enough that I was tempted to go up to eight stars. However, it's also a bit messy and at times unsavory and, well, just isn't going for eight starts. It set out to be a full-value, I-am-what-I-am, dirty-secret seven.

I just watched LFO yesterday, and boy was I satisfied. At the time of writing this review there were only two other user reviews - which I agree with; this Sci-Fi film is dark, comedic, serious, and a tad psychologically disturbing at times (not so much that I would tell anyone to stay away). I wouldn't really consider this a dark comedy despite its comedic moments, since I felt a more serious tone to the movie.I think the plot is well described and the other reviews encompass a lot of what I feel so I'm not going to elaborate on any of those. I really just want to say that I gave LFO a 7 because that is what I feel most people would agree with, but after viewing it I personally feel it's an 8. It kept my attention while I was trying to determine the fate of Robert, Simon, and Clara, but I walked away from this movie feeling as though I was hypnotized myself. I couldn't stop thinking about LFO for a good hour after completion, which typically wins me over.Watch this movie. Hopefully it's still on Netflix when you read this review, but it's totally worth paying for.

This 2013 scandanavian sci-fi film centers on Robert Nord, a formerly powerless man in an unsatisfying life, who discovers the exact frequency needed to control people's minds. He can give orders to their subconscious, from what to do to how to feel and what they even notice. Testing this out on his neighbors, he continuously experiments with this new power, while also using it to deflect law enforcement and a man who wants to know the secret for himself.The story is told in a non linear fashion, with scenes often put out of order, to where we'll see something begin but cut away and go to another part of the story, before we see it's result later on. Don't be scared off by this, however. The film is easy to follow, you simply need to pay attention. In addition, the film is very cold and distant, using none of the usual techniques to manipulate audience reaction, but simply allowing things to play out. This works well for the dry sense of humor the film has, much of it centered around how both dark and absurd Robert's experiments become, which needless to say fall very short of what most rational people would consider moral. The only judgements made, however, are by the audience alone. However even with his immoral action, it's easy to feel some slight sympathy for Robert, a mentally ill, somewhat pathetic individual who at times seems to have his heart in the right place, but whose actions never lead to consequences good for anyone, not even himself. LFO: The movie finds that perfect balance, between conveying the philosophical quandaries of it's subject matter as well as the innate comedy of it, which come together especially perfectly in the film's conclusion.I don't want to say too much more, because it's better to go into this knowing very little. If what I wrote sounds even a little intriguing to you, chances are this film is right up your alley and you should seek it out immediately.

Actually, LFO is an acronym for Low Frequency Oscillation, but it is also the delightfully Heath-Robinson story of the excellent Patrik Karlson's troubled acoustician and his increasingly obsessive behaviour. Writer/ director Antonio Tublén (who also wrote the electronic score) has fashioned a fine morality tale that (as good writing dictates) is plausible after the initial conceit is accepted. The film's tone is cold, it is almost emotionless and often claustrophobic, but this only multiplies its effectiveness in provoking the viewer's contemplation of increasingly challenging events. Karlson is ably supported by forthright performances from Izabella Jo Tschig and Per Löfberg as his neighbours, and Ahnna Rasch as his wife. In a landscape of modern cinema in danger of becoming dominated by endless high-rise multiplex pap, it's refreshing to discover such oases of intelligent and thoughtful film-making as LFO, and you owe it to yourself to see this film, if only to recharge the batteries of your Bay-sh-t detector.