Border, a touching story about a lonely Tina (played by Eva Melander) stuck in a boring job at the customs, turned out to be about trolls. The film by the Iranian-born, Denmark-based Ali Abassi (37) is based on Let the Right One In’s scribe John Ajvide Lindqvist’s short story. Abassi presented the film at KVIFF on Friday night.
Why did you decide to adapt John Ajvide Lindqvist’s short story in the first place? And a relatively unknown one at that?
When the film Let the Right One In came out, I really liked it. My friend told me it was based on a novel, and then he said: “Ok, if you like this, there is this short story about a woman who is ugly and works in customs. And then it turns out she is a troll.” I was like: “What the fuck?”
When I got the chance to work in Sweden, some people asked me whom do I want to work with, and I still remembered this crazy story. Although it’s not really that crazy. Have you read it?
Oh yes.
It’s actually quite mellow and tender, and that’s what I liked about it the most – that this old, supernatural element is so underplayed you hardly notice it at all. I didn’t know anything about trolls and at some points I felt like I was walking on slippery ice. It’s a mythology I don’t really know that much about.
And then I realized that maybe it’s a good thing, because the story isn’t really about that. Maybe if I were Finnish or Swedish, I would make a bigger deal out of it. I tried to keep the soul of it intact, but John understands that making an adaptation isn’t about turning a book into a film. He might not have been happy about everything, but he never gave me any kind of ultimatum.
What makes the difference between typical Scandi and American films, according to Ali Abassi? Is there a superhero that he actually likes? And why did he decide to talk about ugly people in a world that normalizes beauty? Find out in Marta Balaga's interview in Saturday's Festival Daily.
