DVD Review – Tommy (2014)
Estelle, the wife of a gangster who pulled off one of the biggest jobs in Sweden is returning home after being away in Sri Lanka whilst Tommy was avoiding the law. What Estelle and us, the audience know is that Tommy is dead. Upon her return to Sweden she informs all the men involved in the heist that Tommy is coming home and he wants his money. Estelle takes it upon herself to set up all of the men that led to the death of her late husband and she won’t stop until Tommy gets what he’s due.
Behind every man, there’s a woman and Tommy is a fine example of it! These Nordic crime thrillers are always of this great quality of storytelling. The obvious key examples come from the hit films; The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy – that’s my main experience with Swedish film. Tommy keeps that standard with an excellent storyline supported by a strong female leading actress.
Moa Gammel portrayal as Estelle is a woman with nothing to lose, but she has everything to lose – her little daughter. She plays a very dangerous game – messing with the worst of people. She plays it off excellently dealing with the darkest sides of the criminal underworld. Sure she may end up being shot in the middle of snowy field for playing criminals against each other – but she’s got to get things ready for Tommy coming home right?
Supporting Estelle is her close friend Blanca (Lykke Li), a friend who has stood by Estelle and believed she had died after disappearing with Tommy months prior. Although as the saying goes; you fly with the crows, you get shot with the crows. Blanca isn’t bulletproof when it comes to the mob trying to press her for information on Tommys whereabouts. Even when trying to evade the mobsters from grabbing Estelles daughter another poor soul is caught in the cause.
Head mob guy Steve (Johan Rabaeus), is brutal! I don’t want to ever mess with this boy – when the news of Tommys return sparks interest, Steves attempts to get information of Tommy’s whereabouts. How else to integrate a low level mobster than strapping him down onto a electric cooker and proceed to burn his chest on the hobs – it’s horrifying!
DVD Special features – zip, it’s unfortunate that there isn’t any features alongside this release. But I’m happy enough to see that these Nordic noir titles are getting released in the first place.
Overall – Tommy is cold, dark, sinister, but it won’t be as memorable as the films that have come before it.