Nordic Noir

Nordic Noir is the name for a style of crime stories from Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Iceland. The films are slow and cold, with long winters, small towns, tired detectives and a feeling that the welfare state hides something rotten. It grew from crime novels by Henning Mankell, Stieg Larsson and Jo Nesbø and from films such as Ole Bornedal's Nightwatch, Nicolas Winding Refn's Pusher, Erik Skjoldbjærg's Insomnia and Niels Arden Oplev's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It later reached television with The Killing and The Bridge. Horror and thriller directors such as Tomas Alfredson and Ali Abbasi also belong here.

Where

Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Iceland

When

About 1994 to today

Key figures

Erik Skjoldbjærg, Nicolas Winding Refn, Ole Bornedal, Niels Arden Oplev, Morten Tyldum, Tomas Alfredson, Baltasar Kormákur, Ali Abbasi

Landmark films

Nightwatch (1994), Pusher (1996), Insomnia (1997), Let the Right One In (2008), The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009), Headhunters (2011)

Legacy

A style of cold, moral crime stories that became one of Europe's most popular exports, in film and television

What to look for

• Landscape and weather as a mood: snow, long dark days, grey seas
• Flawed, tired detectives and crimes that point at social problems
• Slow pacing and quiet, restrained acting before a sudden shock