"Vi är bäst!" a.k.a We Are the Best

Looper007

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWWNd-eybN0

Lukas Moodysson return to the lighter happier side of his first two films, ****ing Amal and Together, and it seems it's getting his best reviews since Lilya 4 ever. Dealing with young teenage girls wanting to start up a Punk band in 80's Sweden, based on his wife's graphic novel. I'm for one happy to see him return to his more fun loving roots, I admired Lilya 4 ever, found Hole in my Heart a little to difficult but still respect it, Container a load of old rubbish and Mammoth far too preachy. The three female leads won best actresses at JIFF I believe and trailer is real fun.

Moodysson is at his best when his films have a little heart and happiness to them. He's also along with Shane Meadows the best at getting top performances from young leads. Great to see it's getting a run in Cineworld this week.

Looper007

So got to see it today and have to say it's a nice return to Moodysson's earlier films and probably is a lot more of a happier affair then even Together and ****ing Amal but even they had darker moments like Domestic abuse and Suicide attempt. But this only dark moment is the girls falling out over boys which only last a few seconds, The three leads are excellent and have amazing chemistry ( special praise must go to Mira Grosin as Klara, as the rebel and loud mouth Mohawk bass playing lead singer who is the real stand out) some lovely moments stand out such as the end gig

Where original lyrics of the song "Hate The Sport" go out the window and they end up singing how ****ty the town they are playing is in, which ends in a riot. A discussion on if God exists which is very funny, A Jam session with Klara's dad, the girls getting drunk at Klara's big brother's party

.

It's not his strongest film but it's his best in a long time.

johnny_ultimate

Belatedly got around to watching this and it's a modest, down-to-earth and ultimately fairly unexceptional film - but that's not a bad thing. It does not reach the heights of Together or ****ing Amal (I'm not so big on Lilya 4 Ever, although it's a admirable piece of work) but it does have the same sort of roguish charm about it. There's a lot of familiar elements here, but that's mostly down to some of the more universal teenage experiences - silly falling outs, joining a band, an ever-bumbling quest to develop your own identity-style-personality. The three lead girls have a wonderful energy about them, all distinct performances that help us buy into the characters and the relationships. It's very funny, and sweet while resisting any sort of easy sentimentality. It embraces some coming-of-age cliches, while cheekily mocking others, especially during the anarchic ending.

It's proudly unassuming, and maybe ultimately a little too frivolous to stick in the mind over some of this year's other releases. It's a whole heap of fun, though, and hopefully Moodysson will continue making films along these lines rather than the heavy-handed, bleak and 'experimental' films that have defined the last decade or more of his career - until he offers some strong evidence to the contrary, it seems Moodysson will always be most at home with these sort of vibrant, grounded character comedy-dramas.