3 good reasons to watch Nordland ’99 on UniversCiné
An elusive Nordic thriller, with a false air of Twin Peaks.
A lost town, teenagers who zone out, a disturbing mystery and fog on every floor… Welcome to the depths of Denmark. Welcome to Nordland ’99the first exclusive series from the UniversCiné platform, which begins streaming this Monday in France.
Unearthed by the programmers of Séries Mania, who presented it in March 2023, this dark creation from the screenwriter and director Kasper Møller Rask tells of the disappearance of a young boy. Alex is a big teenager who has just been dumped, hates his father and hangs out with his friends, Lukas and Kris, in the video store where one of them works. But one evening, after a clash with her ex’s new boyfriend, Alex disappears into thin air. Nobody is looking. So Lukas and Kris will follow in his footsteps, helped by Emma, Alex’s little sister, who is also very worried… Where is he? What happened? Here are three good reasons to follow in the footsteps of this captivating thriller with them.
1. A misty atmosphere as desired
This is undeniably the great strength of the series. Nordland ’99 is not really spectacular. She would rather be the type to take her time, to better immerse you in the humid and gloomy climate of the Danish countryside. Desolate landscapes, a not entirely welcoming population and secrets buried everywhere. No, it doesn’t make you want to move there. The light is decidedly dark and an icy wind sweeps through every exterior shot. Yes, Nordland ’99 is indeed an atmospheric series, which plays to the fullest the card of this heavy atmosphere, destined to hypnotize the spectator.
2. A little side Twin Peaks
This kind of elusive rural thriller is reminiscent of David Lynch’s classic every time. We still find in Nordland ’99 the same kind of strange characters, and this desire to display a very marked nebulous visual identity. The investigation takes its time to unravel, and as with Laura Palmer, the mystery of Alex’s disappearance conceals its share of twisted surprises.
3. A brilliant recreation of the 1990s
As its name suggests, the story takes place in 1999. And the reconstruction is really successful. Without forcing the point, we find shelves of VHS, a Nokia 3310, music and pop references of the time. But above all the slightly disillusioned adolescent atmosphere of this end of the century, which contrasts with the good nature of the teenagers of Stranger Things in the 1980s, who were also looking for their missing friend (Will Byers in this case) in a remote town… Except that Nordland ’99 does not put one foot into the paranormal and resolutely stays with one’s feet in reality. A cold reality that will hit you in the gut.
