George Wright Swedish Auto is a movie I found in a used DVD store and I have no regrets about buying it. I will say that for many movie goers it is slow and somewhat introspective. However, I stuck with it because I found the character of Carter, played by Lucas Haas, to be genuine and sincere. Carter is a withdrawn young man but is no dead-end kid. He has some excellent qualities; he's a talented mechanic who applies himself to his job. Ironically, he lost his family in a devastating car accident. He reads, watches movies and shows ambition to move beyond his limited surroundings. The owner of the auto shop appreciates his work ethic and encourages him to get a car. Carter shows interest in a decrepit old automobile that he plans to bring it back to life, i.e. the Swedish auto. Carter, who has taken to stalking two young women, sees this as a way of breaking out of his rut and finding a soul-mate. The young women are opposites: one is a concert musician and the other a working class girl from a troubled family, who Carter takes under his wing. This presents Carter with a dilemma. This soon resolves itself and he moves on with his life. We are left with an ambiguous ending but life often is like that.

proletinchen If you wonder what to do on a rainy night, then this might be just right. It is a slow, calm love story about two small town lonely souls. She is a waitress in a diner, he is a mechanic. They both lost their way and don't know how to communicate with people anymore. She - because is being abused by her father, and he- because he lost his family in a car accident. Eventually they overcome their fear of trusting someone - they start actually talking about their lives and fears and realize you can only fall in love with someone you know. Watching your life from a distance isn't a good option. You have to start living it, even in small portions. This said, the movie has its pro's and contra's: Pro's: - It is not overwhelmingly romantic cliché kind of love story. The actors make their characters very believable. Plus, you can really feel for them. The script is actually not surprising, but that doesn't mean its bad. It seems sincerely enough to intrigue you. Contra's: - It is a bit slow on places. Plus, I am a girl and even I can tell you Lukas Haas doesn't know a thing about cars (and he is playing a car mechanic, I mean - its not like a rocket science. He should have prepared better). The other thing I didn't like was the ending- its kind of a very corny, unreal ending to a very realistic and pragmatic view of the life of those people. It seems to me they didn't know how to end it, so they chose the easy way- but it just doesn't fit the whole movie. This said, as a whole the movie is a good debut of the director, Lukas Haas shows one more time he is a very good actor with lot of potential (that's why I like most of his movies!)and January Jones is very very very believable. She doesn't overact, which often happens when a beautiful actress has to play some small town "normal" girl.

hahanoulis8 I saw Swedish Auto in "Opening Nights",Athens' international film festival, and I was really disappointed with it!It was supposed to be a boy meets girl movie which despite not having such a great script, allows you to get lost in the romance and atmosphere of the couple and the surrounding...I think the director really tried to create a film influenced by European cinematography(as he also admitted) but...he only tried!The script is really annoying from time to time.It is mostly typical!Being the director's first film and script, the plot is nothing more than a boy meets a girl-they both have problems-the boy fixes a car-the boy saves the girl and her mother from the evil stepfather or boyfriend or whatever.It is nothing more than a typical American story covered with wanna be European cinematography... What is there to notice only is the challenging performance of Lukas Haas and January Jones and a sympathetic soundtrack.

george.schmidt Swedish AUTO (2006) *** Lukas Haas, January Jones, Lee Weaver, Chris Williams, Mary Mara, Tim De Zarn, Brianne Davis. Lukas Haas made his screen debut some 20 years ago as the innocent Amish boy who witnesses a brutal murder in the Harrison Ford drama, "WITNESS" and since then has made an impressive indie film career playing all sorts of characters - good and evil - with his soulful, expressive eyes doing most of the acting. In this small, modest and deceptively winning film he continues to do some of his finest work.As the introspective, quiet auto mechanic specializing in Volvo repairs (invoking the innocuous title), Haas' Carter is a lonely, yet inquisitive sort who has no friends and family to speak of outside of his kindly elderly employer Leroy (Lee Weaver) and his son Bobby (Chris Williams) who share their luncheons with Carter at the local diner where Carter is secretly falling in love with the comely waitress Darla (January Jones) who is apparently unaware of her beau-in-waiting. During his many empty evenings Carter follows and spies on the beautiful and equally quiet Darla unbeknownst of her would-be paramour who is also beguiled by a neighbor who plays enchanting violin. Carter can barely summon a conversation with anyone let alone express his desires and mulls his misery in silence.When Carter sees an older man making illicit moves on Darla he presents her with a lovely gift - an assortment of Christmas lights on a clothes-hanger outside her window - prompting her to confront him. What Carter doesn't know is that Darla in fact has been following and spying on him! The two lonely hearts start a tender, odd romance while they have to deal with such issues as Darla's addict mother Pam (Mary Mara) whose junkie influences of morphine makes her a prisoner to her boyfriend Shelley (Tim De Zarn), who is dying and her connection to the drug, while making things painful for Darla's conflict of keeping watch on her mother's dwindling health while putting up with Shelley's streak of sadism. Carter meanwhile works out his frustrations by restoring a vintage Volvo, pipe dreaming of escaping from the idyllic little hamlet with Darla, but things are about to change drastically causing the couple to seriously dwell on their immediate futures.Written and directed by novice filmmaker Derek Sieg, who has a career in film production - and according to the press kit provided confirms this as a semi- autobiographical work, makes a gentle film come alive with skillful modulation of maintaining character development and has a painterly viewpoint with a beguiling production design by Ruth DeJong, Richard Lopez' cinematographic palette of bruised blue/green/black schisms evoking the characters romantic melancholy and a keen editing job by Daniel A. Valverde (I was impressed how the climactic confrontation between Bobby and Carter framed the former out of frame suggesting more menace than in their conversation). The acting is universally solid with Haas giving a poignant performance equally balanced by Jones, a genuine surprise perhaps best known as Barry Pepper's long-suffering young bride in last year's "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada", makes Darla an empathetic yet smart character fully realized by the film's end. Sieg echoes the work of Terrence Malick and new indie fave David Gordon Green and uses his hometown of Charlottesville, Virginia to full effect making a unique and sweet film that should be sought out.