One of the most anticipated movies this year, Tillsammans offers a moving, funny, and evocative document of life in the mid-70s. Set in Stockholm, its story follows the interconnected lives of the residents of a left-wing community and captures the difficulties of building and keeping relationships in a crowded environment.
Writer-director Lukas Moodysson's follow-up to the hugely acclaimed debut Fucking Åmål (a.k.a. Show Me Love) presents a definite crowd-pleaser and a sharp piece of story-telling (closer to British East is East than The Ice Storm). Tillsammans (=together) effectively develops its central theme of friendship and strong solidarity blending 70s nostalgia, sexuality, curiosity, loneliness, and hilarious comedy into an engaging emotional quilt. Once again confirming Moodysson's knack for conveying human emotions and creating hugely likeable characters.
The performances are uniformly excellent (by an almost completely unknown cast) -outstanding are Lisa Lindgren (Elisabeth) igniting the screen as a self-discovering mother, Sten Ljunggren (Birger) as a lonely depressed old man, Gustaf Hammarsten (Göran) as the biggest namby-pamby ever seen, Michael Nyqvist (Rolf) as an alcoholic and abusive father and Jessica Liedberg as the new-born lesbian Anna.
The sense of time and place are never lost in this witty, dramatic story filled with historical references and Moodysson's hand-held documentary style heightens the real feel no end.
Funny, recognizable and on occasion deeply moving, this is Swedish cinema actually worth shouting about. Tillsammans is simply one of the greatest films of the last several years and regarding the strong audience response at the screening I attended, it will no doubt enjoy a long career and attract a mass audience. I can't wait for Moodysson's next film project.
Writer-director Lukas Moodysson's follow-up to the hugely acclaimed debut Fucking Åmål (a.k.a. Show Me Love) presents a definite crowd-pleaser and a sharp piece of story-telling (closer to British East is East than The Ice Storm). Tillsammans (=together) effectively develops its central theme of friendship and strong solidarity blending 70s nostalgia, sexuality, curiosity, loneliness, and hilarious comedy into an engaging emotional quilt. Once again confirming Moodysson's knack for conveying human emotions and creating hugely likeable characters.
The performances are uniformly excellent (by an almost completely unknown cast) -outstanding are Lisa Lindgren (Elisabeth) igniting the screen as a self-discovering mother, Sten Ljunggren (Birger) as a lonely depressed old man, Gustaf Hammarsten (Göran) as the biggest namby-pamby ever seen, Michael Nyqvist (Rolf) as an alcoholic and abusive father and Jessica Liedberg as the new-born lesbian Anna.
The sense of time and place are never lost in this witty, dramatic story filled with historical references and Moodysson's hand-held documentary style heightens the real feel no end.
Funny, recognizable and on occasion deeply moving, this is Swedish cinema actually worth shouting about. Tillsammans is simply one of the greatest films of the last several years and regarding the strong audience response at the screening I attended, it will no doubt enjoy a long career and attract a mass audience. I can't wait for Moodysson's next film project.