Triangle of Sadness review - ship of fools

★★★ TRIANGLE OF SADNESS Palme d’Or-winning satire is spectacular before it subsides

Palme d’Or-winning super-rich satire is spectacular before it subsides

Ruben Östlund builds theatres of cruelty for the elite, petri dishes for pretension and hypocrisy. After Force Majeure’s family implosion at a ski resort and The Square’s art crowd Armageddon, Triangle of Sadness casts off with a superyacht which becomes a vomitorium when it hits choppy waters, in his second consecutive Palme d’Or-winner.

Hilma review - biopic of the Swedish abstract artist Hilma af Klint

★★★ HILMA Lasse Hallström's portrayal of an extraordinary woman lacks bite and gravitas

Lasse Hallström's portrayal of an extraordinary woman lacks bite and gravitas

The artist Hilma af Klint, born in 1862, was way ahead of her time. A Swedish mystic who believed that spirits were guiding her hand, she was a contemporary of Kandinsky and Mondrian but her abstract art remained unrecognised. She didn’t fit in to the male-dominated art world.

Album: Goat - Oh Death

Scandinavian shamen return with a lively new ritual

It’s now six years since Goat last released an album of new songs and, despite a live disc and one of B-sides and other odds and sods that have appeared in the meantime, its Requiem title suggested that it might have been their last call to arms. However, do not fear, our favourite pagan psychedelicists are back in the ring and on top form with a lively soundtrack that is more than enough to drag even the most dancefloor phobic up on their feet to shake a leg.

Album: Viagra Boys - Cave World

★★★★ VIAGRA BOYS - CAVE WORLD Tough, goofy stompers from the Swedish retro-futurist punks

Swedish retro-futurist punks fire out another tasty set of tough, goofy stompers

The third album from Stockholm rowdies Viagra Boys doesn’t muck about with what they do, but it’s more persistently punkin’ than their last. There’s more than a snifter of Iggy and the Stooges in both the vocal style and the raucous over-amped riffage, but Viagra Boys spice their sound with electronics and, where early-Seventies Ig was always about untrammelled “Raw Power”, this lot are as happy to offer wry lyrical critiques among the all-out stompers.

Album: Neneh Cherry - The Versions

★★★ NENEH CHERRY - THE VERSIONS Esoteric set of multi-artist cover versions from the singer's back catalogue

Esoteric set of multi-artist cover versions from the singer's back catalogue

Initially, the weird thing about this is it’s being released as a Neneh Cherry album rather than a compilation of artists doing Neneh Cherry covers, which is what it is. That said, awareness slowly grows of a kindred sensibility to recent Neneh Cherry output, the esoteric jazzual spirit that’s imbued her last couple of albums.

Bergman Island review - Mia Hansen-Løve's joyful English-language debut

★★★★ BERGMAN ISLAND Intriguingly open-ended story incorporates a film within a film

Never too meta: an intriguingly open-ended story incorporates a film within a film

French director Mia Hansen-Løve’s graceful, intriguingly open-ended seventh feature, and her English-language debut, is set on Fårö, the island that Ingmar Berman loved.

Album: Lykke Li - EYEYE

Lykke Li's shortest album is her most expansive yet

Swedish singer Lykke Li has called her new album Eyeye “her most intimate work to date”. In regard to Lykke Li’s music, this feels almost impossible at this point. Her music has time and time again explored the depths of heartbreak. Is it possible to write a song more intimate than “Love Me Like I’m Not Made of Stone”?

Album: Linnéa Talp - Arch of Motion

★★★ LINNEA TALP - ARCH OF MOTION Swedish minimalist induces introspection

Swedish minimalist induces introspection

Contrary to the title’s implication, there initially seems to be little movement in Arch of Motion. A note is held on an organ. Then another note comes in and is also held. Chords build up gradually. Maybe one or two ascending or descending notes come and go. And that seems to be it.

Album: Sabaton - The War to End All Wars

Swedish metallers grandiose martial bombast ill-suited to these times

Demonstrating how much the world really can change in a very short time when things spin out of control, Swedish power-metal five-piece Sabaton’s album now seems especially tasteless. It’s also a scalpel-sharp example of how important context is to creative acts. The band have made a career of absurdly OTT story-telling songs of real world battles and those who fought them.