Review of At Arm’s Length (2025)
Seen in 2025.
In this documentary from the future, the Swedish ministry of culture is subsumed into the ministry of finance. Previously state-sponsored artists, replaced by mass-produced AI content, can’t decide what to do.
It feels like a ragtag mood piece, but it is quite expressive. Petrina Solange, Tuva Novotny and other women carry the theme, but I also especially appreciated the men: Henrik Schyffert from I manegen med Glenn Killing (1992) uses almost no irony here, while David Wiberg from Varan-TV (1997) takes a satirical role critical of professional artists, and Magnus Krepper almost reprises his dark role from the 2025 GFF vignette. The vignette, and the political upheaval that inspired this series, are mentioned in my review of The Most Precious of Cargoes (2024).