A very unusual and quirky portrait about Swedish indie folk singer-songwriter José González that focuses on the moments surrounding the creative process. The film achieves an unconventional intimacy using impressionistic personal sequences of the singer’s everyday life.
González, who’s parents came in the 70s from Argentina to Sweden, meets his father again on a trip back to Argentina. During the work for his long-awaited second album ‘In-our-nature’ (2007), we follow his personal reflections and glimpses of life and how they shape the slow artistic process of the musician. The lyrical texts of ‘In-our-nature’ were influenced by González’ readings of books by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins and ethicist Peter Singer. |
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In many long and sometimes strange shots using diverse material with very different styles such as video diaries, surveillance camera, concert footage, tour documentation and animation, we follow the musician’s daily routine on several concert tours ranging over a three year period to Japan, Singapore, United States, South Africa, England, Chile and Argentina.
What emerges is a fascinating mixture between a melancholic travel dairy, with impressive live recordings of his concerts, and scientific reflections during his daily routines. The film gives us an insight into the, often lonely, creative process and of one person’s attempt to manage and understand his own existence. |
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The Extraordinary Ordinary Life of José González
Sweden
2010
70 min. / HD
Language: Swedish
Subtitles: English
Crew
Screenplay: Fredrik Egerstrand and Mikel Cee Karlsson
Cinematography: Mikel Cee Karlsson, Fredric Egerstrand, José González
Sound: Jan Alvemark
Editing: Mikel Cee Karlsson
Production: Fredrik Egerstrand, Erik Hemmendorff for Plattform
Distribution: Plattform Produktion
Director
Born in Varberg (Sweden) in 1977, Mikel Cee Carlsson, a former professional skateboarder, began his career with directing films about skateboarding. He also worked as a photographer before attending the School of Film Directing in Göteborg. There he met Ruben Östlund (The Involuntary, 2008) and Erik Hemmendorff (Plattform Produktion), merging figures in new Swedish cinema. Apart from cinema he has directed several music videos – often in collaboration with the filmmaker Andreas Nilsson. Frederick Egerstrand was born on October 7, 1967 in Alingsås and is a Swedish actor, (video)director and artist. Egerstrand studied at the Valand Art Academy. |