Border

The title of Ali Abbassi’s film refers not to national boundaries, but to differences among species. An adaptation of a short story by John Ajvide Lindqvist, the protagonist here is Tina (Eva Melander, her face disfigured by prosthetics and a mask), a Swedish customs officer with an amazingly acute sense of smell that even allows her to detect passengers’ emotional states. She lives in a remote cabin deep in the forest, where she communes with animals on long walks. Though she has a "significant other"—a shaggy guy who raises ferocious show dogs—and regularly visits her father in a rest home, she seems lonely and isolated until she encounters a strange man named Vore (Eero Milonoff, wearing makeup similar to Melander’s), whose carry-on bag contains jars of insects, and whose body—as her colleague discovers during a strip search—displays very unusual features. Sorry for having embarrassed him, Tina offers Vore the use of her guest house, and the pair develop a close rapport that eventually reveals the truth about Tina’s childhood and secrets that Vore has been keeping, which dovetail with a police investigation into a pedophile ring and a subplot about Tina’s neighbors and their newborn daughter. Border is an unquestionably peculiar but weirdly satisfying romance that raises questions about what it means to be human. Rich in folkloric and quasi-supernatural elements, it fascinates and surprises in equal measure. Recommended. (F. Swietek)