In 1985, Swedish director Lasse Hallström's wonderful "My Life as a Dog" turned up in Palo Alto, and I went to see it several times. Much later, I finally got around to seeing his 1993 "What's Eating Gilbert Grape?", with Johnny Depp, Juliette Lewis, and Leonardo DiCaprio, among others. Then, when my children were young, we watched German movies based on Astrid Lindgren books, with my favorites being the two movies about the Bullerby children. Only after watching them multiple times did I notice that Hallström directed them (in 1986 and 1987). And recently, I stumbled on another part of his career: from 1974 to 1982, he directed 31 ABBA videos. (Andrew Shields, #111Words, 12 September 2025)