A dysfunctional telecom business in a small northern town provides the setting for “The Office”-like comedy in “Flicker,” the debut of Swedish writer-helmer Patrik Eklund (Oscar-nominated for his short “Seeds of the Fall”). Consisting of interlocking tales involving workplace frustrations and mishaps, romantic misadventures, and militants with an electricity allergy, the pic ultimately finds a wacky way to tie its disparate stories together, but overall feels more like a series of comic sketches than a satisfying whole. Its humor will go down best with local audiences.
Musty, inefficient Unicom is on a downward spiral and the clueless CEO (Kjell Bergqvist) would just as soon torch the place. Beleaguered accountant Kenneth (Jacob Nordenson) can’t operate office equipment to save his life, but still wastes work time monitoring his dateline profile. Meanwhile, an arachnophobic cleaning woman (Anki Larsson) tries a new invention and a young repairman (Jimmy Lindstrom) suffers a tragic accident on the cell-phone tower. Brisk editing keeps the action moving at a vigorous pace, and the deliberately dreary, beige-toned color scheme is good for a few laughs. Ensemble of mostly TV thesps is fine.
