What is a “successful adult life”? Swedish filmmaker Ekberg reflects on this question, taking viewers into the streets of his hometown, drenching them black-and-white and infusing them with the humour of the Coen brothers. Screened in the Berlinale’s Forum section, this string of little anti-capitalist adventures centres not on some loser, but on a man who resists the pressure to organise his life around productivity.

“It’s an election. It’s the same as always,” says diabolo performer Alf. He is forty years old, lives with his mother Monika, he spends his days like a flâneur wandering the streets of Norrköping, a city in eastern Sweden. Mother urges her son to find a “real job” and become independent, but Alf seems disinterested in conforming to the conventional model of adult life. The mother-son relationship moves between the mundane, the absurd and moments of humour, set against a growing need for both to let each other go. When Alf finally gets the chance to go on a Eurotrip, his mother is faced with the question of what it really means to let your child become independent.

Cinema that brings back freedom – shot on 16mm and bubbling with a vibrant soundtrack, this dramedy takes surprising, improvised and atmospheric cinematic detours. The film’s title refers to Doggerland, a once-populated area now submerged beneath the southern North Sea. For Ekberg, this image becomes a metaphor for Norrköping – a place whose former cultural life and industrial identity are gradually sinking into oblivion. The director works primarily with non-professional actors, allowing their characters to emerge from their own personalities and life experiences. This Swedish small-town version of Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) features non-professional actors Jon and Anita Holm, who are mother and son in real life. And yes, Jon may not be an actor, but he is a professional juggler.