Nordic Noir

The Killing, which began on Danish public television in 2007, and The Bridge, made jointly by the Danish and Swedish public broadcasters in 2011. What these two exported was not only their stories. A low, heavy sky; dark interiors; a patterned knit sweater. This is a rare case of a place's weather and way of living becoming the name of a genre. What is interesting is that both were remade in the United States almost at once: The Killing on AMC in 2011, The Bridge on FX in 2013. You cannot carry the original's air along with it, so the remakes moved the setting — the latter was set on the border between the United States and Mexico. A climate cannot be exported. A form born out of a climate can. That is what this band showed.