“The Restaurant” (Vår tid är nu), a Review

 

I always enjoy reading blogs where the writer discusses his or her current interests, be it what they’re reading, watching, or doing/have done during the past week. Despite the fact that I enjoy when others do it, I seldom do it myself. I wanted to rectify that by telling you about my current obsession, and given the chance, it will become yours as well. 

The aforementioned obsession, and I have to call it that, is a Swedish television series, Vår tid är nu, that translates to “Our Time is Now,” known to American audiences as simply “The Restaurant.”

This show has none of the elements that would generally attract me. It is Swedish, and I am a big fan of Scandi Noir, but it doesn’t fall into that category. It takes place post World War II, in fact, just as the war is ending, and that is not a timeframe that I, for some reason, seldom find engaging. It’s not a gritty crime show, and there are no mysteries or murders to be solved. But it was highly recommended by so many people that I thought I owed to myself to have a look.

It is as addicting as was “Downton Abbey.” Once I started watching, I absolutely could not stop. It got to be a bit embarrassing to be honest. I kept making excuses to sit down with a cup of coffee, tea, a sandwich, what have you, so that I could watch another episode. Finally, I told myself that I had to earn episodes by getting chores done around the house, otherwise I would’ve been happy to binge watch all four seasons nonstop.

It begins in May, 1945, as peace is proclaimed in Europe. The story centers around the Löwander family, headed by stern matriarch, Helga, who runs their old fashioned restaurant in Stockholm with her two always warring sons, Gustaf and Peter, and their perpetually romantic rebel sister, Nina. The plots and subplots are fascinating, the characters varied and well developed, the acting is stellar, and it is quite intriguing to watch history unfold from postwar 1945 all the way to the civil rights movement. Like many Scandinavian productions, it can be a bit dark, but I was so drawn in that I found myself on edge worrying about the characters.

I highly recommend this series. It’s available for viewing on Acorn TV, AMC+, and Sundance Now. Get your chores done ahead of time, because once you start watching, you are not going to want to stop.

P.S. Yes, there are subtitles. I find that, after a while, I don’t even realize that I’m reading them. The plus in needing to read subtitles is that you can never take your eyes off of the screen. When I’m watching an English speaking production, I will often find my attention divided between it and other things, so I don’t capture every essence of the story. That can’t be the case when you’re reading.

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