Watch the Skies

Movies about aliens are nothing particularly new, but this little-known Swedish production could be a game changer in several regards. Writer-director Victor Danell’s 2022 action-adventure sci-fi offering (originally titled “UFO Sweden”) tells the story of a rebellious teen (Inez Dahl Torhaug) who believes that her mysteriously disappeared father (Oscar Töringe), an ardent UFO researcher and leader of a cult-like group of eccentric investigators, is not dead but was, in fact, abducted by aliens, a claim she’s determined to prove. Armed with her dad’s research and aided by his band of onetime colleagues, most notably a former climate scientist (Jesper Barkselius), she sets out to fulfill her quest, one that often strains credibility and leaves her precariously teetering on the brink of the law. Her impassioned odyssey is presented through a cleverly constructed narrative that feels like a cross between “The X-Files” and “Scooby Doo,” an enticing supernatural mystery peppered with delightful quirkiness, touches of camp, dashes of Spielbergian wit and whimsy, and heart-tugging period nostalgia given its decade-long setting beginning in 1988. In addition, the film successfully incorporates a combination of colorful characters, ample action sequences and gentle comic relief, playing very much like one of the adventurous romps of the time frame in which it’s set. What truly sets this picture apart, however, is its highly effective use of a revolutionary new form of AI known as “immersive dubbing,” a technology that digitally adjusts the movements of the actors’ mouths to match newly supplied audio, making it appear as though performances originally delivered in Swedish look authentic when now spoken in dubbed-over English. Without a doubt, conventional dubbing is a production practice I’ve always seen as somewhat dubious, given its many inherent pitfalls, but the dubbing employed here is so seamlessly integrated that one cannot tell that the performances weren’t delivered...

Maybe my ear isn't actually that close to the ground when it comes to some hidden gems because Sweden's WATCH THE SKIES is a surprisingly enjoyable story about ufologists, belief, and how important it is to be a part of a community.-- and I haven't heard much buzz about it anywhere.

Sometimes out of boredom I will mentally employ the tombola technique and randomly select films for viewing that glide by during streaming scrolls.

What grabbed my attention almost immediately was the relief that the actors seemed to have shot all their scenes in English, albeit with regional Swedish accents throughout.

But even more shocking -- is that the film used state-of-the-art technology to digitally fuse what English-speaking audiences can hear with what they are seeing. Digital manipulation of the actor's mouths shows English words and phrases conjugating in English.

This might seem an insignificant feature, but for anyone who eschews foreign films for some bad dubbing (this doesn't apply to 1970s/1980s Jung Fu movies poorly dubbed -- those are sacrosanct! Hands off!) -- the effect of a bad dub can easily take the viewer out of the realism the film is trying to convey. I really welcome this.

About that technology:

Flawless is a US-based company that offers editing software for films to digitally dub actors' faces for dubbing work. (This presupposes that digital dubbing using Flawless' software can be converted into multiple languages around the world).

WATCH THE SKIES is the first film to release to streaming on Amazon Prime using this software -- and is only the sixth film released since 2023 using the software altogether -- giving me hope that more foreign films using this technology might be forthcoming for the platform.

But back to the film:

Others have adduced WATCH THE SKIES is really just STRANGER THINGS meets INTERSTELLAR, and that's not necessarily a bad thing at all. This is a especially evident with its themes of friendsh...