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Easy Money: Swedish Film ****

2010  Maybe the second time to see it, though Anne is more sure than I am.

JW, Swedish student  who is brightest of the bright, gets involved with drug gang looking to make a score with cocaine.  JW will figure out the banking aspect and collect a ton of easy money.  He thinks he is smarter than the rest.  Th rest, a Latin gang and a rival Serbian gang, make up for any lack of intelligence with brutality and cunning.

JW finds himself in far deeper than he expected.  He sells out his Latin gang members after being promised by the Serbs that no one will be killed.  In the climactic scene, people do get killed.  JW betrays the Serbs, returning to the Latin gang.  His friend Jorge gets away.  JW ends up in jail.

Interesting aspects.  1) One of the Serbs brings his daughter (10 years old)  around with him.  He is her caretaker and clearly cares about her, and he wants somehow to protect her in the midst of all the violence. JW shoots him in the climax.  Near the end of the movie, the Serb is in an ambulance talking to his daughter who is alone in a hotel room.  Sure looks like the Serb is going to die, or dies.  Jorge, in the Latin gang, is concerned about his sister who is about to give birth to a child.  Not used to these gang guys having family ties, a new generation coming along.  Added depth.   2) Very cinematic movie.  I'm guessing the dialogue wouldn't take up more than 15 pages.

Four stars


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