"Kid Svensk" is a fairly average coming of age film, set in the '80s though that hardly makes any difference. It raises some issues about Swedish and Finnish national identity and the difficulties of fitting into a different society and hating your nationality that would be familiar, I imagine, to many people worldwide, though we don't see much of it in the movie.
The main character calls herself Kid Svensk, but her real name is Finnish. Her difficulty with her nationality is never really explored. She goes on a holiday to Finland, where she reunites with family, including a teenage male cousin she shares a room with. I don't know about Scandinavia, but I think most places would consider it improper for a boy and girl of that age to share a room, but the movie doesn't say anything about it, we just get a cut to them both in beds at right angles to each other.
The boy begins to make fairly negligible advances toward the girl, but if you are a pervert, note well: there's no nudity or sex in the movie whatsoever. The closest they come is a single kiss.
Kid is a thief and a girl who smashes things when she gets angry. Her mother's response to both seems remarkably dialed down compared to what a mother would do, realistically, in that position. I feel that Kid Svensk's character would be a lot more fleshed out if her mother was too, but she remains distant and enigmatic for reasons unexplained.
Ultimately, there is a suicide attempt, if that is what it is, that seems completely out of nowhere and melodramatic. I wonder if the screenwriter wrote in the bits about Kid smashing things so that we can see an increase in her destructive behaviour that could lead to suicide attempts. Perhaps that is why her smashing things seems so out of place - it may have been added as an afterthought.
Overall, "Kid Svensk" is watchable, but not realistic enough to really hit home.
The main character calls herself Kid Svensk, but her real name is Finnish. Her difficulty with her nationality is never really explored. She goes on a holiday to Finland, where she reunites with family, including a teenage male cousin she shares a room with. I don't know about Scandinavia, but I think most places would consider it improper for a boy and girl of that age to share a room, but the movie doesn't say anything about it, we just get a cut to them both in beds at right angles to each other.
The boy begins to make fairly negligible advances toward the girl, but if you are a pervert, note well: there's no nudity or sex in the movie whatsoever. The closest they come is a single kiss.
Kid is a thief and a girl who smashes things when she gets angry. Her mother's response to both seems remarkably dialed down compared to what a mother would do, realistically, in that position. I feel that Kid Svensk's character would be a lot more fleshed out if her mother was too, but she remains distant and enigmatic for reasons unexplained.
Ultimately, there is a suicide attempt, if that is what it is, that seems completely out of nowhere and melodramatic. I wonder if the screenwriter wrote in the bits about Kid smashing things so that we can see an increase in her destructive behaviour that could lead to suicide attempts. Perhaps that is why her smashing things seems so out of place - it may have been added as an afterthought.
Overall, "Kid Svensk" is watchable, but not realistic enough to really hit home.
