Easy Money

JW, an economics student, drives a taxi by day and behaves like a rich kid among Stockholm's wealthy set at night. Sustaining that double life takes money, and he goes into cocaine. Inside the same story are an escaped Serbian enforcer and a Chilean criminal trying to pay off a debt. The subject is not drugs but the desire to change class. JW never gets into this for money but to be accepted, and hiding his identity is the tensest thing in the film, occupying more room than the crime. The form is cold and handheld: desaturated colour, fast cutting, and a tempo that tightens wherever the three lines touch. The source is a novel by Jens Lapidus, a defence lawyer who wrote it from material gathered among his own clients. The production marked the start of Joel Kinnaman's international recognition and accelerated Hollywood's turn towards Swedish crime; the rights were bought for an American remake soon after, though that film was never made. Daniel Espinosa directs. Matias Varela and Dragomir Mrsic carry the other two lines. Who it is for: viewers who like Nordic crime and multi-strand storytelling. Who it is not for: anyone wanting to attach to a single character; the film keeps moving between three stories and stays with nobody for long.