We Are the Best! (2013)

Many years ago, when I was looking for god only knows what kind of movies (I thought it was movies based on true stories but apparently I was wrong), I stumbled upon We Are the Best! (Swedish: Vi är bäst!), added it to my watchlist and completely forgot about it. Now it has popped out again so I finally checked it out. 

Set in 1980s Stockholm, the film tells the story of Bobo (Mira Barkhammar) and Klara (Mira Grosin), two 13-year-old tomboys who love punk. Sick of being told that punk is dead, they decide to form their own band. There's a problem though, they don't know how to play so they decide to ask another girl at school, Hedvig (Liv LeMoyne), who is not a punk but is still an outcast, to join them as she actually knows how to play. 

And that's it for the plot. It's quite thin, as you can tell, but it's not a problem at all since We Are the Best! is a coming-of-age and coming-of-age movies don't need great plots to keep the audience interested and engaged. 

To do that, you need solid and interesting characters and this film has them. Bobo is neglected by her single mother and pretty much ignored by everyone but her best friend Klara, and, for this reason, she ends up being a little self-centred. Klara tries to mask and hide her insecurities and vulnerabilities behind a tough look --the Mohawk you can see in the poster and punky clothes. The most interesting by far though is Hedvig. She is the one that grows the most in the film, as the friendships with Bobo and Klara lead her to question "her" values --it's actually Hedvig's mother who imposed her values and beliefs into her. In spite of her changes, she still manages to stay true to herself. It's truly a shame that the film focuses more on Bobo and Klara than Hedvig. It's a different story for the adult characters though, they are shallow to say the least.

Svensk Filmindustri

Surprisingly good are the performances from the leading trio. Mira Barkhammar, Mira Grosin and Liv LeMoyne all give such natural and realistic performances, it doesn't feel like they are acting.

All of that being said, We Are the Best! didn't work that well for me. There's something about it that just was off for me. It wasn't as charming as it was supposed to be, it was often dull and you don't really learn anything from it, whether it is what's like to be a teenager or a punk.

The Square (2017)

After reading several positive reviews about it and after its Oscar nomination, I decided to check out The Square. I didn't have very high expectations though because the only film of Ruben Östlund I had seen before was Force Majeure, a fine movie that however didn't live up to the hype. I guess he is not my type because I didn't love this one either. 

The film follows a few weeks in the life of Christian (Claes Bang), the curator of a modern art museum in Stockholm who, while looking for those who have stolen his phone and wallet, struggles at creating the hype and launching a new work of art, The Square.

And that's the main problem I had with The Square, the plot. Or rather, the lack of one. Though it starts off in a very interesting way, the "plot" (it's a disjointed plot, by the way) soon starts wandering, it becomes an assembly of subplots, most of which are left unresolved and ditched quite fast for another shallow subplot --Elisabeth Moss's character and subplot just don't fit.There isn't a single developed plot, and at some point, I didn't care anymore about what was going on. 

The main character, on the other hand, is interesting and keeps the film moving. Christian is arrogant, self-centered. He is not kind nor understanding towards many (if not most) of his fellow citizen. He doesn't really care about anything --he isn't even worried when his kids are fighting. He is detached, disconnected from life and everything and everyone that surrounds him. He is both a victim and perpetrator of injustice. He is a very unlikable character and yet Claes Bang gives such a good performance, he makes you sympathize with him.

TriArt Film

Then there's the satire. Unfortunately, it doesn't always work. It takes on modern art and modern society, from political correctness to freedom of speech, but it never dwells too deep into it. That and the most satirical scenes go on for too long. The dinner with the museum donors where the performer is acting like an ape is interesting and intriguing at first, then becomes uncomfortable and at last annoying. 

Still, The Square manages to highlight a huge problem in our society, the fact that people do not help those who are clearly in need unless the victim(s) makes it unbearable for them. In the dinner sequence, a woman is begging for help while being sexually assaulted by art (the ape-man) and everyone keeps their head down. When he starts screaming, then, but only then people help her.