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Mio in the Land of Faraway

Mio in the Land of Faraway (Swedish: Mio min Mio; Russian: Мио, мой Мио, romanizedMio, moy Mio) is a 1987 fantasy film directed by Vladimir Grammatikov, and starring Christopher Lee, Christian Bale, Nicholas Pickard, Timothy Bottoms and Susannah York. Based on the 1954 novel Mio, My Son by Astrid Lindgren, it tells the story of a boy from Stockholm who travels to an otherworldly fantasy realm and frees the land from an evil knight's oppression.

Mio in the Land of Faraway
Swedish DVD cover
featuring 1987 promotional artwork.
Directed byVladimir Grammatikov
Written byWilliam Aldridge
Based onMio, My Son
by Astrid Lindgren
Produced byIngemar Ejve
StarringChristopher Lee
Christian Bale
Nicholas Pickard
Timothy Bottoms
Susannah York
CinematographyAleksandr Antipenko
Kjell Vassdal
Edited byDarek Hodor
Music byBenny Andersson
Anders Eljas
Production
companies
Distributed bySandrew Metronome
Release dates
  • July 1987 (1987-07) (MIFF)
  • 18 August 1987 (1987-08-18) (NIFF)
  • 16 October 1987 (1987-10-16) (Sweden)
Running time
99 minutes
CountriesSweden
Soviet Union
Norway
LanguageEnglish
BudgetSEK 55,000,000 (est.)
Box officeSweden: SEK 17,799,205

Mio in the Land of Faraway was co-produced by companies from Sweden, Norway and the Soviet Union with a budget of about fifty million Swedish kronor, making it the most expensive film adaptation of an Astrid Lindgren book during her lifetime.[1] It featured an international cast consisting largely of British, Russian and Scandinavian actors, while its filming locations included Stockholm, Moscow, Crimea, and Scotland. The film was shot in English and subsequently dubbed in Swedish and Russian. Its special effects were created by Derek Meddings. The film's theme song, "Mio My Mio", was composed by two former ABBA members, Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, and performed by the Swedish band Gemini.

Released in 1987, the film saw Nicholas Pickard's debut as an actor and marked Christian Bale's first appearance in a feature film. It won the Cinekid Film Award in Amsterdam, while its theme song became a top three hit in Sweden. However, Swedish reviewers received the film unfavorably, criticizing it as a poor adaptation of Lindgren's novel.

Plot edit

The film opens in modern Stockholm. Orphaned by his mother's death and father's disappearance, Bosse (Nicholas Pickard) suffers neglect by his guardians Aunt Edna[2] (Gunilla Nyroos) and Uncle Sixten, as well as abuse from bullies. His best friend is Benke (Christian Bale), whose father Bosse envies. Running away one night to seek his own father, Bosse meets the kindly shopkeeper Mrs Lundin (Linn Stokke), who gives him an apple and asks him to mail a postcard. The postcard is addressed to the Land of Faraway, informing its King of Bosse's impending journey there. After Bosse mails the postcard, his apple turns golden. Dropping the transfigured apple in shock, Bosse stumbles upon a genie (Geoffrey Staines) trapped in a bottle and frees it.

It turns out that this spirit has travelled from the Land of Faraway to seek Bosse, and that the golden apple is Bosse's identifying sign. With the boy clinging to his beard, the genie transports Bosse to the Land of Faraway and sets him down on Green Meadow Island. There, Bosse discovers that his real name is Mio, and that his father is the King (Timothy Bottoms). Treated with love and indulgence, Mio leads an idyllic life on Green Meadow Island. He receives the horse Miramis as a gift from his father and makes friends with the local children. The latter include the farm boy Jiri, the shepherd boy Nonno, and the royal gardener's son Jum-Jum, who turns out to be Benke's double. Together, Mio and Jum-Jum learn to play pan flute music from Nonno.

However, not all is well. From a whispering well, Mio learns that an iron-clawed knight from the Land Outside, Kato (Christopher Lee), has been kidnapping children and making them his servants by ripping out their hearts and replacing them with stone. Those who refuse to serve him are transformed into birds and condemned to circle his castle in flight. Even his name induces terror when spoken.

With Jum-Jum and Miramis, Mio leaves Green Meadow Island and journeys to the Forest of Mysteries, where he tears his cape on the briars. The Weaver Woman (Susannah York) receives the boys at her house, mending Mio's torn cape and sewing a new lining into it. Hearing the Bird of Grief[3] lament for Kato's victims, and told that the Weaver Woman's daughter Millimani is among them, Mio gradually learns of his long-prophesied destiny to confront Kato in the Land Outside.

Journeying to the Land Outside, Mio and Jum-Jum meet Eno (Igor Yasulovich), a hungry old man living in a cave, and offer him food. In gratitude, Eno tells them to seek a weapon against Kato from the Forger of Swords, who has been imprisoned and enslaved by Kato in the Blackest Mountain beyond the Dead Forest. Meanwhile, Kato's servants capture Miramis. The boys are forced to continue their journey on foot, pursued by Kato's servants through the Dead Forest and the Blackest Mountain. Separated in the mountain's tunnels, the boys find each other by playing their pan-flutes. They finally reach the Forger of Swords (Sverre Anker Ousdal), who tells the boys about Kato's stone heart and provides Mio a sword capable of penetrating it.

Mio and Jum-Jum journey to Kato's castle, where they are captured and imprisoned. Kato throws Mio's sword into the lake outside the castle. However, Mio discovers that his newly lined cape turns him invisible when worn inside-out, and reclaims his sword with the help of Kato's birds. Armed and invisible, he escapes and makes his way to Kato's chamber, eluding the castle guards. Taking off his cloak, Mio challenges Kato to combat and eventually slays him. Turning into rock, the dead knight crumbles into pieces. Mio picks up Kato's stone heart and holds it outside a window, where it transforms into a bird and flies away.

Kato's birds turn back into children, Jum-Jum and Miramis are freed, and Kato's castle collapses into ruin. The Dead Forest begins to revive. Returning to Green Meadow Island, the children rejoin their families, and Mio rejoins his father.

Cast edit

Actor Role
Nicholas Pickard
(Swedish voice: Pontus Lantz)
(Russian voice: Slava Galiulin)
Mio / Bosse
Christian Bale
(Swedish voice: Max Winerdahl)
(Russian voice: Kesha Ivanov)
Jum-Jum / Benke
Christopher Lee
(Swedish voice: Tor Isedal)
(Russian voice: Sergey Malishevsky)
Kato
Timothy Bottoms
(Swedish voice: Tomas Bolme)
(Russian voice: Timofei Spivak)
The King
Susannah York
(Swedish voice: Helena Brodin)
(Russian voice: Larissa Danilina)
The Weaver Woman
Sverre Anker Ousdal
(Swedish voice: John Harryson)
(Russian voice: Vladimir Antonik)
Forger of Swords
Igor Yasulovich
(Swedish voice: Per Sjöstrand)
Eno / Carpetbeater
Linn Stokke
(Swedish voice: Lena Endre)
(Russian voice: Marina Levtova)
Mrs. Lundin
Stig Engström
(Swedish voice: Ulf Håkan Jansson)
(Russian voice: Vladislav Kovalkov)
Benke's Father
Geoffrey Staines
(Swedish voice: Hans Strååt)
(Russian voice: Andrey Tarasov)
The Spirit
Gunilla Nyroos
(Russian voice: Nelli Vitepash)
Aunt Edna[2]
Lyobov Germanova Jum-Jum's Mother
Andrei Petrov
(Swedish voice: Christoffer Levah)
Jiri
Andrei Sergeyev
(Swedish voice: Johan Randqvist)
Nonno
Anna Foght Millimani

Major themes edit

As a fantasy work, Mio in the Land of Faraway features a number of tropes associated with the genre. These include the hero's travel to a fantasy realm through a magical portal, his discovery of his true name, and his battle against a Dark Lord figure. In addition, the film's early scenes take the form of an urban fantasy concerned with a young boy's wishful desires and perceptions.[4]

Production edit

 
Stockholm.
 
Eilean Donan Castle.

Various companies from Sweden, Norway and the Soviet Union were involved in making Mio in the Land of Faraway. It was co-produced by Nordisk Tonefilm International AB and Gorky Film Studio with assistance from the Swedish Film Institute, Norway Film Development, and Sovinfilm.[5] Its budget was about fifty million Swedish kronor,[6] making it the most expensive film adaptation of an Astrid Lindgren book during her lifetime.[1]

Filming took place between March 1986 and July 1986.[7] Helmed by Russian director Vladimir Grammatikov, the project featured an international cast consisting largely of British, Scandinavian and Russian actors.[8] Filming locations included Stockholm, Moscow,[9][10] the Crimea, and Eilean Donan Castle in Scotland. The film was shot in English,[8] and subsequently dubbed in Swedish[8] and Russian.[7][9]

For his role as Kato, Christopher Lee had to wear a steel hand during filming sessions.[11] In 1997, he recalled various difficulties while shooting the film in Moscow during 1986:

As a work environment it was a horror story. [...] For us the faraway land was the Soviet Union, where the food was uneatable, the sanitation unspeakable, the political people ubiquitous. [...] It was irritating work: Nothing ever happened before lunch, and since it took forever to light a scene, not much after it. These were the standard frustrations of Russian filmmaking at that time.[12]

The Chernobyl disaster occurred at the same time that the cast and crew were filming scenes in Ukraine, forcing them to evacuate the area and postpone shooting for a month.[13] In a 2008 Details interview, Christian Bale briefly recalled their evacuation and subsequent return: "We knew something had occurred, because production came to us and they said, 'We're done. We have to leave.' A month later we were back. We would have somebody with a Geiger counter at every dinner, scanning each plate".[13]

The film's special effects were created by Derek Meddings. The film's theme song, "Mio My Mio", was composed by two former ABBA members, Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, and performed by the Swedish band Gemini. The film's background music was composed by Anders Eljas with assistance from Benny Andersson,[5] and performed by the Soviet Film Symphony Orchestra with Sergei Skripka as the conductor.[5]

This film was Nicholas Pickard's debut as an actor. It was also the feature-film debut of Christian Bale, who reappeared in December that year as the NBR-acclaimed lead of Steven Spielberg's Empire of the Sun (1987).

Release edit

The film appeared at the Moscow International Film Festival in July 1987,[14] with its Russian dub competing in the Children's Films category.[9] The film also appeared at the Norwegian International Film Festival on 18 August 1987.[9][14] It premiered in Sweden on 16 October 1987.

The film is distributed in Sweden by Sandrew Metronome,[9][15] and in the United States by Miramax Films as The Land of Faraway. It was released on VHS by Prism Entertainment in 1988 and by Starmaker Entertainment in 1992. It was released on DVD by Anchor Bay Entertainment in the US during 2001, and by Eureka Entertainment in Britain during 2007.[16]

Reception edit

Box office edit

In Sweden, the film grossed about 17,800,000 Swedish kronor at the box office.451,257 people as of 6 July 2008.

Critical response edit

In Sweden, the film received poor reviews upon its release.[1] According to a Cinema Journal article, Swedish reviewers criticized it for being "canned Astrid Lindgren" and "an incoherent jumble of landscapes and cast members, badly dubbed to boot".[1] The Cinema Journal critic also attributed the film's negative reception to its omission of the original work's psychological nuances.[1] Another factor was the film's international eclecticism in its cast and settings,[8] which the Cinema Journal critic characterized as "Anglicizing"[1] and contrasted to the Swedish medievalism of the better-received Lindgren adaptations The Brothers Lionheart (1977) and Ronia the Robber's Daughter (1984).[17]

Critical response elsewhere has ranged from mixed to negative. Following the 1987 festival screening in Norway, the film-industry magazine Variety criticized Mio in the Land of Faraway for its unsubtle handling of Lindgren's text and the actors,[9] although it praised the film's appealing appearance and high production values as well as Christopher Lee's performance.[9] Following the 2007 DVD release in Britain, the genre magazine Dreamwatch characterized Mio in the Land of Faraway as a "strange, otherworldly film" and an "intriguing curio" from the 1980s,[18] but criticized its sentimentality and its "sugary tone and sub-Tolkien dialogue".[18] Following a memorial screening in 2004, the Chicago Reader characterized the film as "unimaginative" and its acting as "wooden", again citing Lee as an exception.[19]

One decade after the film's initial release, The Encyclopedia of Fantasy praised the film's early scenes as a "beautifully effective" urban fantasy, but criticized the later scenes as "cliché-ridden and turgid". Seeing the film as an attempt to emulate The NeverEnding Story (1984), it summed up Mio in the Land of Faraway as a "tired, imitative and cynical" adaptation of Lindgren's novel.[4]

Awards edit

In Amsterdam, the film won the Cinekid Film Award in 1988.

Soundtrack edit

In 1987, Gemini released the film's theme song "Mio My Mio" as a single[20] and as part of their album Geminism.[21] It became a hit in Sweden, with the single maintaining top ten position for 5 weeks.[20]

In 1987 and 1988, CBS Records released the film's soundtrack on LP and CD.[22] These releases included both "Mio My Mio" as well as the score. The LP album (CBS 460594-8) contains the following tracks:[23]

  1. "Mio Overture" (Anders Eljas) – 3:16
  2. "Kite-Flying" (Anders Eljas) – 1:26
  3. "Aunt Edna's Waiting At Home" (Anders Eljas) – 0:44
  4. "Bosse Runs Away" (Anders Eljas) – 4:36
  5. "The Journey To The Land Of Faraway" (Anders Eljas, Benny Andersson) — 6:01
  6. "The Shepherd's Flute #1" (Benny Andersson) — 0:27
  7. "Kato's Icy Wind" (Anders Eljas) — 2:09
  8. "The Bridge Of The Morning Light" (Anders Eljas) — 1:46
  9. "The Land Outside" (Anders Eljas) — 1:51
  10. "Miramis Is Captured" (Anders Eljas) — 1:58
  11. "The Hunt For Mio And Jum-Jum" (Anders Eljas) — 1:40
  12. "The Shepherd's Flute #2" (Benny Andersson) — 0:43
  13. "The Sword" (Anders Eljas) — 1:00
  14. "Inside Kato's Castle" (Anders Eljas) — 5:04
  15. "Prisoners Of Kato" (Anders Eljas) — 0:40
  16. "To The Dungeon" (Anders Eljas) — 1:32
  17. "Return Of The Sword" (Anders Eljas) — 0:37
  18. "The Final Battle" (Anders Eljas) — 5:36
  19. "The Reunion" (Anders Eljas, Benny Andersson) — 1:44
  20. "Mio My Mio" (Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus; performed by Gemini) — 3:55

References edit

Citations edit

  1. ^ a b c d e f Holmlund, Christine (2003). "Pippi and Her Pals". Cinema Journal. 42.2 (Winter 2003): 14.
  2. ^ a b Aunt Edna is named "Edla" in the Swedish film credits.
  3. ^ Mio and the Weaver Woman refer to the bird as such. The film's theme song refers to it as the "Bird of Sorrow".
  4. ^ a b Grant, John (1997). "Land of Faraway, The". In Clute, John; Grant, John (eds.). The Encyclopedia of Fantasy. New York: St. Martin's Griffin. pp. 558..
  5. ^ a b c Film credits.
  6. ^ Cinema Journal reports a budget of fifty million Swedish kronor. [Holmlund, Christine (2003). "Pippi and Her Pals". Cinema Journal. 42.2 (Winter 2003): 14.]
  7. ^ a b "InBaseline: Mio min Mio (1987) - Additional Detail - Additional Notes". Retrieved 6 July 2008.[permanent dead link]
  8. ^ a b c d Holmlund, Christine (2003). "Pippi and Her Pals". Cinema Journal. 42.2 (Winter 2003): 12.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g "Film Reviews: Mio in the Land of Faraway". Variety (26 August 1987). 1987.
  10. ^ Lee, Christopher (1997) [1977]. Christopher Lee: Tall, Dark and Gruesome. US: Midnight Marquee (1999 US reprint). pp. 275–277, 278.
  11. ^ Lee, Christopher (1997) [1977]. Christopher Lee: Tall, Dark and Gruesome. US: Midnight Marquee (1999 US reprint). p. 276.
  12. ^ Lee, Christopher (1997) [1977]. Christopher Lee: Tall, Dark and Gruesome. US: Midnight Marquee (1999 US reprint). pp. 275–277.
  13. ^ a b Higginbotham, Adam (27 May 2008). . Details. Archived from the original on 1 July 2008. Retrieved 2 July 2008.
  14. ^ a b "Variety: Mio min Mio (1988)". Retrieved 6 July 2008.[dead link]
  15. ^ "InBaseline: Mio min Mio (1987) - Credits". Retrieved 6 July 2008.[permanent dead link]
  16. ^ "Eureka Entertainment: Eureka! Classics - Mio in the Land of Faraway". Retrieved 6 July 2008.
  17. ^ Holmlund, Christine (2003). "Pippi and Her Pals". Cinema Journal. 42.2 (Winter 2003): 12–15.
  18. ^ a b Skipp, James (2007). "Mio in the Land of Faraway: DVD review". Dreamwatch (12 March 2007). Archived from the original on 22 January 2013. Retrieved 2 July 2008.
  19. ^ Shen, Ten (2004). "Mio in the Land of Faraway". Chicago Reader (10 January 2004). Retrieved 11 July 2008.
  20. ^ a b "Swedishcharts.com: Gemini - Mio min Mio (Song)". Retrieved 10 July 2008.
  21. ^ "Swedishcharts.com: Gemini - Geminism (Album)". Retrieved 10 July 2008.
  22. ^ "Soundtrack Collector: Mio Min Mio". Retrieved 2 July 2008.
  23. ^ "1987: Mio Min Mio (digital scan of track list)". Retrieved 2 July 2008.

General and cited references edit

  • "Film Reviews: Mio in the Land of Faraway". Variety (26 August 1987). 1987.
  • Grant, John (1997). "Land of Faraway, The". In Clute, John; Grant, John (eds.). The Encyclopedia of Fantasy. New York: St. Martin's Griffin. p. 558.
  • Holmlund, Christine (2003). "Pippi and Her Pals". Cinema Journal. 42.2 (Winter 2003): 3–24. doi:10.1353/cj.2003.0005.
  • Shen, Ten (2004). "Mio in the Land of Faraway". Chicago Reader (10 January 2004). Retrieved 11 July 2008.
  • Skipp, James (2007). "Mio in the Land of Faraway: DVD review". Dreamwatch (12 March 2007). Archived from the original on 22 January 2013. Retrieved 2 July 2008.

External links edit

land, faraway, swedish, russian, Мио, мой, Мио, romanized, 1987, fantasy, film, directed, vladimir, grammatikov, starring, christopher, christian, bale, nicholas, pickard, timothy, bottoms, susannah, york, based, 1954, novel, astrid, lindgren, tells, story, fr. Mio in the Land of Faraway Swedish Mio min Mio Russian Mio moj Mio romanized Mio moy Mio is a 1987 fantasy film directed by Vladimir Grammatikov and starring Christopher Lee Christian Bale Nicholas Pickard Timothy Bottoms and Susannah York Based on the 1954 novel Mio My Son by Astrid Lindgren it tells the story of a boy from Stockholm who travels to an otherworldly fantasy realm and frees the land from an evil knight s oppression Mio in the Land of FarawaySwedish DVD coverfeaturing 1987 promotional artwork Directed byVladimir GrammatikovWritten byWilliam AldridgeBased onMio My Sonby Astrid LindgrenProduced byIngemar EjveStarringChristopher LeeChristian Bale Nicholas PickardTimothy BottomsSusannah YorkCinematographyAleksandr Antipenko Kjell VassdalEdited byDarek HodorMusic byBenny AnderssonAnders EljasProductioncompaniesNordisk Tonefilm InternationalGorky Film StudioDistributed bySandrew MetronomeRelease datesJuly 1987 1987 07 MIFF 18 August 1987 1987 08 18 NIFF 16 October 1987 1987 10 16 Sweden Running time99 minutesCountriesSwedenSoviet UnionNorwayLanguageEnglishBudgetSEK 55 000 000 est Box officeSweden SEK 17 799 205Mio in the Land of Faraway was co produced by companies from Sweden Norway and the Soviet Union with a budget of about fifty million Swedish kronor making it the most expensive film adaptation of an Astrid Lindgren book during her lifetime 1 It featured an international cast consisting largely of British Russian and Scandinavian actors while its filming locations included Stockholm Moscow Crimea and Scotland The film was shot in English and subsequently dubbed in Swedish and Russian Its special effects were created by Derek Meddings The film s theme song Mio My Mio was composed by two former ABBA members Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus and performed by the Swedish band Gemini Released in 1987 the film saw Nicholas Pickard s debut as an actor and marked Christian Bale s first appearance in a feature film It won the Cinekid Film Award in Amsterdam while its theme song became a top three hit in Sweden However Swedish reviewers received the film unfavorably criticizing it as a poor adaptation of Lindgren s novel Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Major themes 4 Production 5 Release 6 Reception 6 1 Box office 6 2 Critical response 6 3 Awards 7 Soundtrack 8 References 8 1 Citations 8 2 General and cited references 9 External linksPlot editThe film opens in modern Stockholm Orphaned by his mother s death and father s disappearance Bosse Nicholas Pickard suffers neglect by his guardians Aunt Edna 2 Gunilla Nyroos and Uncle Sixten as well as abuse from bullies His best friend is Benke Christian Bale whose father Bosse envies Running away one night to seek his own father Bosse meets the kindly shopkeeper Mrs Lundin Linn Stokke who gives him an apple and asks him to mail a postcard The postcard is addressed to the Land of Faraway informing its King of Bosse s impending journey there After Bosse mails the postcard his apple turns golden Dropping the transfigured apple in shock Bosse stumbles upon a genie Geoffrey Staines trapped in a bottle and frees it It turns out that this spirit has travelled from the Land of Faraway to seek Bosse and that the golden apple is Bosse s identifying sign With the boy clinging to his beard the genie transports Bosse to the Land of Faraway and sets him down on Green Meadow Island There Bosse discovers that his real name is Mio and that his father is the King Timothy Bottoms Treated with love and indulgence Mio leads an idyllic life on Green Meadow Island He receives the horse Miramis as a gift from his father and makes friends with the local children The latter include the farm boy Jiri the shepherd boy Nonno and the royal gardener s son Jum Jum who turns out to be Benke s double Together Mio and Jum Jum learn to play pan flute music from Nonno However not all is well From a whispering well Mio learns that an iron clawed knight from the Land Outside Kato Christopher Lee has been kidnapping children and making them his servants by ripping out their hearts and replacing them with stone Those who refuse to serve him are transformed into birds and condemned to circle his castle in flight Even his name induces terror when spoken With Jum Jum and Miramis Mio leaves Green Meadow Island and journeys to the Forest of Mysteries where he tears his cape on the briars The Weaver Woman Susannah York receives the boys at her house mending Mio s torn cape and sewing a new lining into it Hearing the Bird of Grief 3 lament for Kato s victims and told that the Weaver Woman s daughter Millimani is among them Mio gradually learns of his long prophesied destiny to confront Kato in the Land Outside Journeying to the Land Outside Mio and Jum Jum meet Eno Igor Yasulovich a hungry old man living in a cave and offer him food In gratitude Eno tells them to seek a weapon against Kato from the Forger of Swords who has been imprisoned and enslaved by Kato in the Blackest Mountain beyond the Dead Forest Meanwhile Kato s servants capture Miramis The boys are forced to continue their journey on foot pursued by Kato s servants through the Dead Forest and the Blackest Mountain Separated in the mountain s tunnels the boys find each other by playing their pan flutes They finally reach the Forger of Swords Sverre Anker Ousdal who tells the boys about Kato s stone heart and provides Mio a sword capable of penetrating it Mio and Jum Jum journey to Kato s castle where they are captured and imprisoned Kato throws Mio s sword into the lake outside the castle However Mio discovers that his newly lined cape turns him invisible when worn inside out and reclaims his sword with the help of Kato s birds Armed and invisible he escapes and makes his way to Kato s chamber eluding the castle guards Taking off his cloak Mio challenges Kato to combat and eventually slays him Turning into rock the dead knight crumbles into pieces Mio picks up Kato s stone heart and holds it outside a window where it transforms into a bird and flies away Kato s birds turn back into children Jum Jum and Miramis are freed and Kato s castle collapses into ruin The Dead Forest begins to revive Returning to Green Meadow Island the children rejoin their families and Mio rejoins his father Cast editActor RoleNicholas Pickard Swedish voice Pontus Lantz Russian voice Slava Galiulin Mio BosseChristian Bale Swedish voice Max Winerdahl Russian voice Kesha Ivanov Jum Jum BenkeChristopher Lee Swedish voice Tor Isedal Russian voice Sergey Malishevsky KatoTimothy Bottoms Swedish voice Tomas Bolme Russian voice Timofei Spivak The KingSusannah York Swedish voice Helena Brodin Russian voice Larissa Danilina The Weaver WomanSverre Anker Ousdal Swedish voice John Harryson Russian voice Vladimir Antonik Forger of SwordsIgor Yasulovich Swedish voice Per Sjostrand Eno CarpetbeaterLinn Stokke Swedish voice Lena Endre Russian voice Marina Levtova Mrs LundinStig Engstrom Swedish voice Ulf Hakan Jansson Russian voice Vladislav Kovalkov Benke s FatherGeoffrey Staines Swedish voice Hans Straat Russian voice Andrey Tarasov The SpiritGunilla Nyroos Russian voice Nelli Vitepash Aunt Edna 2 Lyobov Germanova Jum Jum s MotherAndrei Petrov Swedish voice Christoffer Levah JiriAndrei Sergeyev Swedish voice Johan Randqvist NonnoAnna Foght MillimaniMajor themes editAs a fantasy work Mio in the Land of Faraway features a number of tropes associated with the genre These include the hero s travel to a fantasy realm through a magical portal his discovery of his true name and his battle against a Dark Lord figure In addition the film s early scenes take the form of an urban fantasy concerned with a young boy s wishful desires and perceptions 4 Production edit nbsp Stockholm nbsp Eilean Donan Castle Various companies from Sweden Norway and the Soviet Union were involved in making Mio in the Land of Faraway It was co produced by Nordisk Tonefilm International AB and Gorky Film Studio with assistance from the Swedish Film Institute Norway Film Development and Sovinfilm 5 Its budget was about fifty million Swedish kronor 6 making it the most expensive film adaptation of an Astrid Lindgren book during her lifetime 1 Filming took place between March 1986 and July 1986 7 Helmed by Russian director Vladimir Grammatikov the project featured an international cast consisting largely of British Scandinavian and Russian actors 8 Filming locations included Stockholm Moscow 9 10 the Crimea and Eilean Donan Castle in Scotland The film was shot in English 8 and subsequently dubbed in Swedish 8 and Russian 7 9 For his role as Kato Christopher Lee had to wear a steel hand during filming sessions 11 In 1997 he recalled various difficulties while shooting the film in Moscow during 1986 As a work environment it was a horror story For us the faraway land was the Soviet Union where the food was uneatable the sanitation unspeakable the political people ubiquitous It was irritating work Nothing ever happened before lunch and since it took forever to light a scene not much after it These were the standard frustrations of Russian filmmaking at that time 12 The Chernobyl disaster occurred at the same time that the cast and crew were filming scenes in Ukraine forcing them to evacuate the area and postpone shooting for a month 13 In a 2008 Details interview Christian Bale briefly recalled their evacuation and subsequent return We knew something had occurred because production came to us and they said We re done We have to leave A month later we were back We would have somebody with a Geiger counter at every dinner scanning each plate 13 The film s special effects were created by Derek Meddings The film s theme song Mio My Mio was composed by two former ABBA members Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus and performed by the Swedish band Gemini The film s background music was composed by Anders Eljas with assistance from Benny Andersson 5 and performed by the Soviet Film Symphony Orchestra with Sergei Skripka as the conductor 5 This film was Nicholas Pickard s debut as an actor It was also the feature film debut of Christian Bale who reappeared in December that year as the NBR acclaimed lead of Steven Spielberg s Empire of the Sun 1987 Release editThe film appeared at the Moscow International Film Festival in July 1987 14 with its Russian dub competing in the Children s Films category 9 The film also appeared at the Norwegian International Film Festival on 18 August 1987 9 14 It premiered in Sweden on 16 October 1987 The film is distributed in Sweden by Sandrew Metronome 9 15 and in the United States by Miramax Films as The Land of Faraway It was released on VHS by Prism Entertainment in 1988 and by Starmaker Entertainment in 1992 It was released on DVD by Anchor Bay Entertainment in the US during 2001 and by Eureka Entertainment in Britain during 2007 16 Reception editBox office edit In Sweden the film grossed about 17 800 000 Swedish kronor at the box office 451 257 people as of 6 July 2008 Critical response edit In Sweden the film received poor reviews upon its release 1 According to a Cinema Journal article Swedish reviewers criticized it for being canned Astrid Lindgren and an incoherent jumble of landscapes and cast members badly dubbed to boot 1 The Cinema Journal critic also attributed the film s negative reception to its omission of the original work s psychological nuances 1 Another factor was the film s international eclecticism in its cast and settings 8 which the Cinema Journal critic characterized as Anglicizing 1 and contrasted to the Swedish medievalism of the better received Lindgren adaptations The Brothers Lionheart 1977 and Ronia the Robber s Daughter 1984 17 Critical response elsewhere has ranged from mixed to negative Following the 1987 festival screening in Norway the film industry magazine Variety criticized Mio in the Land of Faraway for its unsubtle handling of Lindgren s text and the actors 9 although it praised the film s appealing appearance and high production values as well as Christopher Lee s performance 9 Following the 2007 DVD release in Britain the genre magazine Dreamwatch characterized Mio in the Land of Faraway as a strange otherworldly film and an intriguing curio from the 1980s 18 but criticized its sentimentality and its sugary tone and sub Tolkien dialogue 18 Following a memorial screening in 2004 the Chicago Reader characterized the film as unimaginative and its acting as wooden again citing Lee as an exception 19 One decade after the film s initial release The Encyclopedia of Fantasy praised the film s early scenes as a beautifully effective urban fantasy but criticized the later scenes as cliche ridden and turgid Seeing the film as an attempt to emulate The NeverEnding Story 1984 it summed up Mio in the Land of Faraway as a tired imitative and cynical adaptation of Lindgren s novel 4 Awards edit In Amsterdam the film won the Cinekid Film Award in 1988 Soundtrack editIn 1987 Gemini released the film s theme song Mio My Mio as a single 20 and as part of their album Geminism 21 It became a hit in Sweden with the single maintaining top ten position for 5 weeks 20 In 1987 and 1988 CBS Records released the film s soundtrack on LP and CD 22 These releases included both Mio My Mio as well as the score The LP album CBS 460594 8 contains the following tracks 23 Mio Overture Anders Eljas 3 16 Kite Flying Anders Eljas 1 26 Aunt Edna s Waiting At Home Anders Eljas 0 44 Bosse Runs Away Anders Eljas 4 36 The Journey To The Land Of Faraway Anders Eljas Benny Andersson 6 01 The Shepherd s Flute 1 Benny Andersson 0 27 Kato s Icy Wind Anders Eljas 2 09 The Bridge Of The Morning Light Anders Eljas 1 46 The Land Outside Anders Eljas 1 51 Miramis Is Captured Anders Eljas 1 58 The Hunt For Mio And Jum Jum Anders Eljas 1 40 The Shepherd s Flute 2 Benny Andersson 0 43 The Sword Anders Eljas 1 00 Inside Kato s Castle Anders Eljas 5 04 Prisoners Of Kato Anders Eljas 0 40 To The Dungeon Anders Eljas 1 32 Return Of The Sword Anders Eljas 0 37 The Final Battle Anders Eljas 5 36 The Reunion Anders Eljas Benny Andersson 1 44 Mio My Mio Benny Andersson Bjorn Ulvaeus performed by Gemini 3 55References editCitations edit a b c d e f Holmlund Christine 2003 Pippi and Her Pals Cinema Journal 42 2 Winter 2003 14 a b Aunt Edna is named Edla in the Swedish film credits Mio and the Weaver Woman refer to the bird as such The film s theme song refers to it as the Bird of Sorrow a b Grant John 1997 Land of Faraway The In Clute John Grant John eds The Encyclopedia of Fantasy New York St Martin s Griffin pp 558 a b c Film credits Cinema Journal reports a budget of fifty million Swedish kronor Holmlund Christine 2003 Pippi and Her Pals Cinema Journal 42 2 Winter 2003 14 a b InBaseline Mio min Mio 1987 Additional Detail Additional Notes Retrieved 6 July 2008 permanent dead link a b c d Holmlund Christine 2003 Pippi and Her Pals Cinema Journal 42 2 Winter 2003 12 a b c d e f g Film Reviews Mio in the Land of Faraway Variety 26 August 1987 1987 Lee Christopher 1997 1977 Christopher Lee Tall Dark and Gruesome US Midnight Marquee 1999 US reprint pp 275 277 278 Lee Christopher 1997 1977 Christopher Lee Tall Dark and Gruesome US Midnight Marquee 1999 US reprint p 276 Lee Christopher 1997 1977 Christopher Lee Tall Dark and Gruesome US Midnight Marquee 1999 US reprint pp 275 277 a b Higginbotham Adam 27 May 2008 Christian Bale Details Archived from the original on 1 July 2008 Retrieved 2 July 2008 a b Variety Mio min Mio 1988 Retrieved 6 July 2008 dead link InBaseline Mio min Mio 1987 Credits Retrieved 6 July 2008 permanent dead link Eureka Entertainment Eureka Classics Mio in the Land of Faraway Retrieved 6 July 2008 Holmlund Christine 2003 Pippi and Her Pals Cinema Journal 42 2 Winter 2003 12 15 a b Skipp James 2007 Mio in the Land of Faraway DVD review Dreamwatch 12 March 2007 Archived from the original on 22 January 2013 Retrieved 2 July 2008 Shen Ten 2004 Mio in the Land of Faraway Chicago Reader 10 January 2004 Retrieved 11 July 2008 a b Swedishcharts com Gemini Mio min Mio Song Retrieved 10 July 2008 Swedishcharts com Gemini Geminism Album Retrieved 10 July 2008 Soundtrack Collector Mio Min Mio Retrieved 2 July 2008 1987 Mio Min Mio digital scan of track list Retrieved 2 July 2008 General and cited references edit Film Reviews Mio in the Land of Faraway Variety 26 August 1987 1987 Grant John 1997 Land of Faraway The In Clute John Grant John eds The Encyclopedia of Fantasy New York St Martin s Griffin p 558 Holmlund Christine 2003 Pippi and Her Pals Cinema Journal 42 2 Winter 2003 3 24 doi 10 1353 cj 2003 0005 Shen Ten 2004 Mio in the Land of Faraway Chicago Reader 10 January 2004 Retrieved 11 July 2008 Skipp James 2007 Mio in the Land of Faraway DVD review Dreamwatch 12 March 2007 Archived from the original on 22 January 2013 Retrieved 2 July 2008 External links editMio in the Land of Faraway at IMDb nbsp Mio in the Land of Faraway at the Swedish Film Institute Database nbsp Mio in the Land of Faraway at AllMovie Mio in the Land of Faraway at Rotten Tomatoes Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Mio in the Land of Faraway amp oldid 1191068904, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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