Amusing look at what it means to be a community
Added 11/30/2009
This Swedish comedy is set in 1970 and takes a look at life in a commune in Stockholm. Elisabeth (Lisa Lindgren) runs away from her drunken husband, Rolf (Michael Nyqvist), after he hits her in the face, taking along her 13-year-old daughter and son who is eight or nine. They land up with Elizabeth's brother who lives in a hippie commune where the members are all committed to socialism, vegetarianism, feminism and open-marriage but cannot agree whose turn it is to do the washing up.
The poor kids feel humiliated and estranged among a bunch of immature adults -- and their father's efforts to win back their trust only make things worse. But slowly they begin forming relationships with other kids their own age. Meanwhile Elizabeth is introduced to feminist ideas expressed by the radical notion of allowing her underarm hair to grow. We soon learn that behind the empty slogans of the hippies lies deep hypocrisy -- and we eventually learn what it takes to form a real community bound by ties of love and affection. Along the way there are many funny moments.
What I liked about this movie, apart from the Abba soundtrack, is that the characters change and grow -- and that the ideological points it makes are delivered subtly instead of being hammered home.
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This is Bolshevism
Added 10/6/2009
Well, here we have it; the Communist Utopia caught on film. This is another great film by Lukas Moodysson, whom gave us "F***ing Åmål" ("Show me Love" in the US) back in the 90's, one of my favourite films for sure. The film is set in 1975 in Sweden, where a small commune of various brands of leftists and communists are living together. It starts out with the death of General Franco being celebrated immensely, and that sets the tone for what is to follow. Elisabeth, a low-caste mother of two leaves her slightly abusive husband, Rolf, another low-caste, who has trouble with controlling his drinking-habit. She takes their children with her, and goes to live with her brother, Göran, who is something of a head for the Communist commune. He is the most absurd push-over I've ever seen, yet also hilariously amusing and as a side-note a very Nordic man, anthropologically, which is not something that can be said for the rest of the cast, which consists of various types of mischlinge. Göran has a relationship with a somewhat younger girl, who wants to live out the Communist society in every way; in other words there is no property so she can "sleep" with anyone she wants to. Göran doesn't dare to offend the oppressed women of the world, and carries his frustrations with him until late in the film. Various other characters also make their entry, but some of these are too disgusting to be mentioned here.
The film is simply hilarious, yet at the same time it is very uncomfortable and sickening to watch. To put it shortly, the so-called "commune" in that film is more or less the exact opposite of everything I stand for, yet that of course makes it a fascinating watch. Both Rolf and Göran have some positive and intriguing sides, and at times it is a touching film, but the general tone of it all is for lack of a better word; sick. This is the "Culture of Critique" in real life (on a movie, hoho), and even though it will now never come to pass in Europe since we are being overwhelmed by people that would find this as abhorrent as I do, it is a testament to a way of thinking that led to our current European situation.
Highly recommended, and at times both touching and amusing, yet it is of course so in all the wrong ways. 4 stars for this interesting photo of an age that is now in some ways thankfully gone. PS: This is for adults, not something you'd want your teenager or children to see.
1 out of 2 people found this helpful.
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Golgi Apparatus
Added 2/18/2008
Of the three Lukas Moodysson films I've seen, this one is my least favorite. That's not quite as bad as it sounds. I loved Lilya 4-Ever [Region 2] and Show Me Love. Together had me running hot and cold. It was quite a while into the movie before I began to care about many of these characters. The real core of this movie is daughter Eva. I found her character, storyline and acting to be what ultimately kept me watching it all the way to the end. She is brilliantly awkward. Not even awkward. Normal but not one of the bonehead popular girls.
It is the people in the Together collective themselves who I largely disliked. Not that I have to love people, or that they have to be people with whom I'd want to fraternize for me to like a movie, far from it, but for much of the movie almost all of them annoyed me. I quite enjoyed Eva's father and his new friend, though.
And yet... the movie is somehow tragic and quite lovely. In American cinematic terms, think of a Pleasantville, albeit one that takes alot longer to get going. As a person who is as far from being a "soccer fan" as one can be, I found myself quite moved by it at times here.
My 2nd viewing is what drove home my ambivalence. The sections of the movie I didn't care for the first time around seemed to be even more tedious the 2nd time, but yes I still enjoyed what I'd previously enjoyed. Summation: I'd never buy this movie. Seeing it twice during the rental was enough for me. That's what separates this movie from the aforementioned Moodysson films. I greatly enjoyed and was consistently moved (or haunted) by those 2. Were I unwrapping a Christmas or birthday gift and found one or both of those inside I'd be completely pleased and would end up seeing both of them many times. Together didn't have that sort of staying-power. I think it could have, but it didn't quite.
1 out of 3 people found this helpful.
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GREAT movie - has every element you could want
Added 1/10/2008
I have to admit that I loved this movie. It is not easy for me to find a film that compels me to care so much about the characters. Whether it was finding one repugnant or feeling incredibly sorry for another one, I was fully engaged with all of them and really wanted to see what happened. I found that just their daily interactions were complex and often hysterical. Even the kids (very rare that I really like kids in films) were fascinating. This movie is set in the 70's and I found only one "mistake" about the time period. Other than that, everything was appropriate to that decade - especially the mere notion of free sex/love and communal living. But the personalities of these characters make this movie worth watching. I watched it last night and I find myself still laughing about it today. If you like quirky, complicated people trying to survive living together interesting, you will like this one for sure.
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Was it so good?
Added 12/1/2007
This was a fairly good movie, but it is not a 5 star DVD. It is basically a story about aimless hippies in mid 1970s Sweden and their impractical solutions to their bizarre little problems.
0 out of 4 people found this helpful.
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