Thoughts on Together

Sunday, August 22, 2010 7:09 PM By Simon

-In the 70s, a small commune is is disrupted when their vaguely-defined leader's sister moves in with her kids, after leaving her violent husband.

-Stars, among others, the guy from The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.

-Subtitles went off screen a bit.

-Lovely movie. Episodically following the lives of these commune residents, including: Erik (Olle Sari), a zealous socialist, former banker's son, longing to be among the 'common man', but hopelessly naive, Goran (Gustaf Hammarsten), the sweet-natured, pushover patriarch, Elisabeth (Lisa Lindgren), her teenage daughter longing for normalcy and her young son desperate to stay in touch with his father (Michael Nyqvist), and so on.

-Not exploitive to what could've been soft porn (70s-era suburban commune is such an easy topic to roll with), instead (ahem) following the characters interact, try to work their shit out, or just be weird-ass hippies, who are never presented as straight-up heroes or villains--they all have flaws, and they all spew bullshit, but the closest director Lukas Moodysson comes to an outright stereotype or is Lena (Anja Lundqvist), Goran's narcissistic, selfish, immature girlfriend. Even Rolf, Elisabeth's husband who, initially set up as what might be generously described as a deadbeat, isn't that bad, just kind of a dumbass.

-No real way to get across the brilliant satire this is. Just watch it.

4 comments:

Burning Reels said...

Very decent film - would recommend most of his filmography, although he seems to have lost his way a little lately - his last couple of pictures were a fairly steep drop in quality.

August 23, 2010 at 6:54 AM
Colin Biggs said...

Really went off the radar with this one. I've never even heard of it.

August 25, 2010 at 9:23 AM
Simon said...

Burning Reels: Mammoth wasn't very bad.

Fitz: Go! Go watch it!

August 26, 2010 at 6:43 PM
Neil Fulwood said...

I haven't seen 'Container' or 'Mammoth' yet, but this is definitely my favourite of the Moodysson films I have seen. Observational, warm-hearted, beautifully done.

August 27, 2010 at 6:03 AM