Daniel Espinosa’s “Easy Money” is one of the better underworld crime thrillers to come out in the last decade. From its strong performances, writing and cinematography, “Easy Money” is an absolutely thrilling film that I highly recommend!
Image courtesy of © 2010 Tre Vanner Produktion. All Rights Reserved.
DVD TITLE: Easy Money (aka “Snabba Cash”)
FILM YEAR: 2010
DURATION: 125 Minutes
DVD INFORMATION: Anamorphic Widescreen 2:35:1, Swedish Dolby Digital 5.1 with English Subtitles, English SDH
COMPANY: Anchor Bay Entertainment
RATED: R (Strong Violence, Pervasive Language, Drug content and Some Sexuality)
Release Date: March 26, 2013
Directed by Daniel Espinosa
Based on the Novel by Jens Lapidus
Screenplay by Maria Karlsson
Collaborating Writer: Hassan Loo Sattarvandi, Fredrik Wikstrom
Producer: Fredrik Wikstrom
Co-Producer: Jessica Ask, Frank Bonn, Gunnar Carlsson, Lone Korslund, Christin Kix, Peter Nadermann
Executive Producer: Michael Hjorth
Music by Jon Ekstrand
Cinematography by Aril Wretblad
Edited by Theis Schmidt
Casting by Jeanette Klintberg
Production design by Roger Rosenberg
Costume Design by Denise Ostholm
Starring:
Joel Kinnaman as Johan “JW” Westlund
Matias Varela as Jorge
Dragomir Mrsic as Mrado
Lisa Henni as Sophie
Mahmut Suvakci as Abdulkarim
Jones Danko as Fahdi
Lea Stojanov as Lovisa
Dejan Cukic as Radovan
Miodrag Stojanovic as Nenad
Joel Spira as Nippe
Annika Ryberg Whittembury as Paola
Fares Fares as Mahmoud
Hamdisa Causevic as Ratko
Directed by Daniel Espinosa (Safe House) EASY MONEY is a Swedish crime thriller based on the international best-selling novel Snabba Cash by Jens Lapidus. Lower-class business student JW (Joel Kinnaman from AMC’s ‘The Killing’) falls in love with a sexy heiress while living a double life mingling with Stockholm’s wealthy elite. To keep up the facade of his lifestyle he’s lured into a world of crime. Jorge is a petty fugitive on the run from both the police and Serbian mafia. He hopes that brokering a massive cocaine deal will allow him to escape for good. Mafia enforcer Mrado is on the hunt for Jorge but his efforts are complicated when he’s unexpectedly saddled with caring for his young daughter. As JW’s journey ventures deeper into the dark world of organized crime the fate of all three men becomes entangled and ends with a dramatic struggle for life and death.
In 2006, Swedish criminal defense lawyer and author would write the noel “Snabba Cash”, as part of the “Stockholm Noir” trilogy. The novel would become the fourth best selling novel in Sweden in 2007 and it caught the interest of Swedish filmmaker Daniel Espinosa (“Safe House”, “The Fighter”, “Outside Love”).
Because of Espinosa’s upbringing in Skogas and his Chilean roots, he understood how it was to hang out with Yugoslavians and also hanging out with the upperclass in Sigtuna. So, he can identify with the story of “Snabba Cash”. And the first film adaptation was released in theaters in 2010 and would received critical acclaim and become one of the best selling films in Sweden.
Filmmaker Martin Scorsese helped give the film recognition in America and the film was also part of a major bidding war in which the Weinstein Company acquired the rights to the film but also for a remake which will star Zac Efron.
With a sequel of “Snabba Cash” having been released in theaters in Sweden, the DVD for the first film titled “Easy Money” will be released in America courtesy of Anchor Bay Entertainment.
“Easy Money” is a crime thriller that revolves around three characters.
Johann “JW” Westlund (portrayed by Joel Kinnaman, “The Killing”, “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”, “Safe House”) is a man who attends the Stockholm School of Economics. Brought up in the Norrland region of Sweden, where his father is an alcoholic working in the saw mill and his mother works at a job agency, while his sister Camilla is missing, suffice to say that JW has not lived a great life while he was younger.
But now he’s making little money doing the homework or the thesis for other students for cash, using the money to invest in nice clothes and try to fit in with the socially elite (despite being poor, living in the dorms and not driving a great car). JW also helps sell drugs provided to him by Abdulkarim to the socially elite.
Jorge Salinas Barrio (portrayed by Matias Varela, “Storm”) is a Chilean fugitive who escapes from prison and wants revenge from those who snitched on him especially revenge against Serbian mafia boss Radovan Kranic. But first he must get back to working with Abdulkarim and because of his knowledge of cocaine, he is a very important person in the underworld. But he is also wanted by police and the Serbian mafia. But Jorge just wants to do one major cocaine delivery and leave the country.
Mrado Slovovic (portrayed by Dragomir Mrsic) is a hitman for the Serbian mafia and is sent by Radovan to kill Jorge. But has been suddenly forced to take care of his eight-year-old daughter, when her mother is sent to get treatment for her drug addiction.
With Jorge returning to the drug business after escaping prison, Abdulkarim offer JW 20,000 SEK (about $3,000) if he can bring Jorge back to him alive. But as JW watches from the distance, he sees Mrado following him. As JW follows the two, he sees Mrado and his partner beating Jorge up and about to kill him. JW quickly makes one car’s alarm go off which distracts Mrado and his partner and giving Jorge time to escape.
As Mrado and his partner try to look for Jorge, JW helps Jorge and along with Abdulkarim’s men, brings them back to JW’s home. Abdulkarim offers JW 1,000 SEK (about $150 US) a day if he allows Jorge to stay at his home. And the two eventually become friends.
Meanwhile, as JW attends these high society parties, he finds out from Sophie (portrayed by Lisa Henni), who has fallen for JW, that her boyfriend Carl may not be able to afford the “Stekare” lifestyle because his father’s investment bank is in serious financial trouble. As Abdulkarim wants JW to have more responsibility in the drug cartel, JW comes up with a plan that if Abdulkarim buys the bank (owned by Carl’s father), they can launder 20,000,000 SEK and he can be responsible for the dealings. If the bank makes money, they make money by increasing the shares and he would get a percentage from it.
JW is then brought to Germany with the drug cartel to visit Jorge’s drug dealer friends who hide drugs under the skin of dogs and also inside the leaves of young cabbage plants. As Abdulkarim’s cartel negotiates for 40 kilos of cocaine, JW manages to land a deal in which the German syndicate would launder their money through the bank that Abdulkarim now owns.
Meanwhile, this causes problems for the Serbian Mafia and because Mrado was unable to kill Jorge, their profit may suffer. Thus the Serbian Mafia declares war on Abdulkarim’s cartel and in the process of nearly being killed by drive-by shootings, JW starts to worry about the risks that he is taking.
JW just wanted to make money, so he can use it to fund his lifestyle. But when he is nearly killed and sees others being threatened and hurt, he begins to regret his actions of getting so far involved with the drug syndicate.
Not knowing if he can trust Abdulkarim or even Jorge, what happens when JW arrives home to find Mrado waiting for him.
VIDEO, AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
“Easy Money” is presented in Anamorphic Widescreen, 2:35:1 aspect ratio) in Swedish Dolby Digital 5.1 with English/English SDH subtitles. I’m a little surprised that there is no Blu-ray HD release of this title (considering it was released on Blu-ray in 2010 in various countries) but for the most part, the DVD looks very good. Colors are warm, I saw no artifacts or major problems with picture quality. Cinematography by Aril Wretblad (“Jalla! Jalla!”, Kopps”, “Zozo”) is well-done and he does a great job in capturing the elegance of the high society parties but also the world of the criminal underworld.
Dialogue and Jon Ekstrand’s music score are crystal clear and there is surround activity mostly during the action sequences towards the end of the film. Otherwise, “Easy Money” is primarily a dialogue-driven film.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“Easy Money” comes with no special features.
A brilliant crime thriller from Daniel Espinosa, based on Jens Lapidus’ best selling novel, “Easy Money” wins you over by the lives of these three men, who are different in lifestyle and their involvement in the criminal underworld and how these three men come into contact with each other.
Actor Joel Kinnaman as the main protagonist JW, is an intriguing figure in the crime world.  By looks alone, he looks like a metrosexual who wants to be a male model, but in truth is a man who just wants the opportunity to know life of the wealthy and be part of that circle. He manages to infiltrate and befriend these individuals but despite coming from a poor upbringing, he has found a way to live this lifestyle by working with Switzerland’s notorious drug syndicate. And with more responsibility, means more money and it’s what he wants… a lot of money to live the lifestyle that he enjoys.
Jorge has lived a criminal life, having a terrible upbringing and bringing brought up with his sisters. Unfortunately, his problems brings his family problems and as much as Jorge wants to see his sister deliver a baby and help financially support his family, being a wanted man by the authorities and enemy syndicates, brings trouble all around him. But he just needs to do one major job, so he can use the money and leave Switzerland.
As for Mrado Slovovic, the trained hitman who gets the job done but unfortunately, his life is changed upside-down, when he is forced to care for his eight-year-old. And because he is often busy with his duties in the underworld, he ends up having to bring her around as well.
But for each of these men, each want to do one final job that would bring them money and that is to ensure a major cocaine delivery takes place.
But what happens when JW learns that there is no loyalty with the people he hooks up with. That he is just a person that can be used anytime. What happens when his thirst for money now leads him to a path of death and possibly his own, early demise?
Filmmaker Daniel Espinosa was able to bring life into his film adaptation of Jens Lapidus’ novel and a big part of that is through the performances of its actors. Joel Kinnaman is right for the part of JW. With his slicked back hair and expensive clothes, you see how JW is able to get himself into the social elite, but also see him crack under pressure when he finds himself responsible for people getting beaten or killed. He just took the job for easy money but now he learns that he got himself into something, far worse than he would ever expect.
Dragomir Mrsic also does a great job of playing a hitman who now has to deal with his daughter. For his young daughter, her father is the world to her but for the character of Mrado, he sees it as an inconvenience of having to drag an 8-year-old girl around with him. But also knowing that his life and how he was raised, it was not great. So, he wants to at least be there for his daughter. The scenes with Mrado and his daughter are interesting because you can tell that he loves his daughter, but yet does not like his daughter interfering with his life or job.
The cinematography of the film is well-done as it tries to capture the brutality of the underworld but also the elegance of high society. Using warm colors, picture quality looks good on DVD but I was hoping Anchor Bay Entertainment would have released a Blu-ray release of “Easy Money” like it was in Europe. While picture quality and audio were very good on DVD, unfortunately there are no special features at all.
Overall, Daniel Espinosa’s “Easy Money” is one of the better underworld crime thrillers to come out in the last decade. From its strong performances, writing and cinematography, “Easy Money” is an absolutely thrilling film that I highly recommend!
