Grabbarna i 57:an: A Very Stockholm Kind of Chaos

Is this for you?

Honestly, you probably already know if you’re the kind of person who enjoys Grabbarna i 57:an. If you like old-school Swedish comedy where people yell in stairwells and everyone is in everyone else's business, dive in. If you need a movie to actually go somewhere or have a real point? Maybe skip it. It’s just people living. That’s it.

The whole thing feels like you’ve accidentally walked into someone’s apartment building and decided to stay for three hours of eavesdropping. It reminds me a bit of the domestic mess in The Callahans and the Murphys, but with more snow and fewer hats. The cast is huge. There are so many people shuffling in and out of frames that I lost track of who lived in which flat about twenty minutes in.

Small moments

There is this one scene where a guy is trying to fix something in the hallway, and it goes on for, I swear, an eternity. It’s not funny, and it’s not dramatic. It’s just there. You can tell the director just let the camera roll because they liked the way the light hit the wallpaper or something. It feels incredibly real, even if it's boring as hell.

• The stairwell acoustics are the real star here. Every footstep echoes like a gunshot.
• Julia Cæsar is, as always, doing the heavy lifting while everyone else just kind of hangs around.
• The pacing is basically a suggestion. Sometimes it crawls; sometimes it just stops moving entirely.

I found myself staring at the background details more than the actual plot. Why is that painting tilted? Who put that crate there? It’s the kind of movie that feels unpolished in a way that actually makes it feel more like a time capsule than a production. It’s not trying to be The Grand Duke's Finances or anything grand. It’s just the guys at number 57.

Some of the dialogue is snappy, sure. But then it’ll just drop into a weird silence where people just stare at each other. It’s jarring. I think I liked it? It felt honest, at least. Not every movie needs to be a perfect machine. Sometimes it’s okay to just watch people complain about the weather and their neighbors. 🏠

If you’re looking for a deep message, you’re in the wrong place. But if you want to feel like a ghost haunting a 1930s Stockholm apartment building, this is exactly what you need. Grab a coffee, ignore the plot, and just watch the doors open and close. It’s strangely meditative.