Disclaimer I was saving this review till I’d watched the movie with commentary which I’m hoping will explain a few things. Since I’m some kind of OCD that can’t publish other reviews while another is awaiting clarification, and I have a little pile mounting up, I’ve decided to fix this up as best I can without input from said commentary. So if it makes no sense, just remember: this blog is more for me than for you. It’s cheaper than therapy.

This is the kind of movie that leaves me speechless. There are moments and images that struck me as so beautiful, but I really couldn’t begin to explain why, my heart just kept sinking and leaping shot by shot. The performances are amazingly real, which is kind of not surprising, as many of the members of the cast are to a point playing themselves – the movie is very sparse on exposition or plot and it cries out for some kind of introduction or explanation, so I’m glad that I got this one on DVD, and that the DVD happens to be a good one, featuring behind-the-scenes stuff, and a commentary from the writer-director.

All the way, the movie reminds me a lot of Lukas Moodysson’s movies, particularly Fucking Åmål and Lilya 4 Ever. To that end I kind of wish it did have more of a story to it, a few more emotional ups and downs, even if they did betray the movie’s astounding veracity. Don’t get me wrong, I love when movies are as heartbreakingly, face-slappingly real as this one is … but this one is so in touch with the real world that it kind of tires a little towards the end, even if the final image is the most harrowing of all.

Oh, a word of warning – I’m more than usually fine with any accent you can throw at me in movies, but this is the first movie in memory where if you asked me to transcribe the dialogue, I’d probably get less than 30% of it right. To me, it didn’t matter, because the movie works on so many other levels … but if you’re the kind of person who needs to hear and understand every word that’s said, you’ll definitely be wanting a DVD with subtitles.

I really wish I had more time to talk about this movie … but there’s always future viewings, of which, and I know I say it so much it’s almost irrelevant, but anyway, still, there will be many.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 16th, 2007 at 1:26 am in 4 hearts, Movie Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.