World-premiering in the series section of the 36th Stockholm International Film Festival, We Come in Peace qualifies as one of this year’s bolder Swedish ventures. The main talent at work is director Jens Jonsson (The King of Ping Pong [+lee también:
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What’s more, this is Swedish sci-fi, the history of which fits into a very thin volume, whose cover might be illustrated by the poster from 1959’s Terror in the Midnight Sun, a worthy rival to Plan 9 from Outer Space. Further or closer encounters have been scarce, if existent at all. So, it’s largely new territory here, and not just for the interplanetary beings whose final frontier – somewhat curiously, yet so conveniently – is Stockholm.

“Vi kåmer i fred” (which would translate as “We kåm in peace”) they write using mushrooms arranged to form Latin letters in a sewer just a stone’s throw from the crib of Millennium’s Lisbeth Salander. As Swedes will always be flattered by any foreigner attempting to use their language, the fungal grammar hits home. So does a ginormous jellyfish-like entity, hovering over the nation’s capital. They’re kåming, all right, but in peace?

A novella by Anders Fager, Queer Noveau 2.0, is credited as an inspiration, rather than the basis, for the plot. Fager depicts extraterrestrials settled on Earth, living and partying alongside (and occasionally dating) Earthlings in a hedonistic future; think Alien Nation, but adults-only. Series creator Lars Lundström takes Fager’s story a step back, exploring how it all started – not least the reactions on Earth. There’s jittery, bickering government heads trying to sort out how to save the world and win the next election (not necessarily in that order); it’s like A House of Dynamite with Swedish chefs. A cooler head sits on civil defence agent Charbel (Fares), played as the classic battle-scarred Nordic Noir cop type. And then there’s rogue mycologist Zandra Kraft (Ahmad), savvy about the fungi stuff, who adopts an injured ET (who looks quite like… ET).

Repeatedly, the US ambassador reminds everyone that the White House expects a call confirming the resolution of the situation. The major worldwide networks, including those in the USA, China and even France, blast out any breaking news to be had. There’s a giant glowing egg with enough electrical power to solve the global energy crisis, more mushroom communication, psilocybin-style, and xenophobic protesters, chanting, “Earth for the Earthlings.” There’s a lot here – a rather thick book, as it were.

As for that rather slim book of Swedish sci-fi, We Come in Peace may not yet land the cover picture, but it has most certainly added a new page. The main objections concern an occasionally breakneck speed, the truncation of some storylines into snippets and the introduction, but never the full development, of some of the (too numerous?) characters. The merits include the atmospheric visuals, a tongue-in-cheek take on current Swedish politics and a general feeling that the talent involved seems to have really enjoyed being at work.

We Come in Peace was produced by Sweden’s Black Spark Film & TV, with co-production by TV4, ZDF, Dansu, Beside, Snyggfin, Big Light and Infinite Entertainment. Its sales are handled by Studio TF1.