Gamla stan: A strange, tilted look at Stockholm

Is it worth your time?

If you're the kind of person who enjoys a good museum exhibit but finds traditional documentaries boring, maybe give this a whirl. But if you’re looking for a plot, or people talking, or anything resembling a normal film experience, stay far away. You will probably hate this if you get motion sickness from shaky, diagonal camera shots.

Watching Gamla stan feels like someone gave a camera to a poet who was trying way too hard to be 'different.' The oblique angles are constant. It’s like the horizon line just decided to go on vacation and never came back. 🤨

I found myself squinting at the screen, trying to figure out why the buildings looked like they were sliding off the frame. It’s definitely an avant-garde choice, but man, it gets exhausting fast. You start to feel like the camera operator was having a very shaky day.

The vibe is... unique

There is this underlying, heavy feeling to the whole thing. People back when it was released called it pro-USSR, and you can kind of see why, even if it’s mostly just gloomy shots of cobblestones and dark alleyways. It feels cold. It feels like a lecture you didn't sign up for.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Gamla stan (1931) through its definitive frames.

It reminds me a bit of the frantic, slightly disjointed energy you get in One Week, but without the slapstick charm to save it. Instead of a house falling down, you’ve just got Stockholm looking like it’s mid-earthquake.

• The framing is aggressively tilted.
• The atmosphere is thicker than cold porridge.
• I spent half the time wondering if my monitor was broken.

There’s a strange, detached quality to it that makes it hard to connect with. It doesn’t want you to like it. It wants you to notice it. And notice it I did, mostly because I kept waiting for someone to straighten the camera out. It’s one of those films where you can feel the creators patting themselves on the back for being so bold.

It’s not a long watch, which is its biggest mercy. If you're into obscure historical oddities, it’s a neat artifact of the 'Fem Unga' group. If you're just looking for a Friday night movie? Maybe skip it and watch something that doesn't treat the horizon line like a suggestion.

Honestly, the whole thing feels like a homework assignment that got a bit out of hand. Interesting, sure. Fun? Not really. 🤷‍♂️