3 out of 4 good films

Advantages: Show me Love, Together, Lilya 4-Ever
Disadvantages: A Hole in my Heart

...To start off, I have never heard anything about Lukas Moodysson. I simply have an interest in world cinema and this caught my eye after reading a few of the films descriptions at the back of the box set. So, I'll give a separate review per film. Show Me Love (Fucking Amal) Set in a small Swedish town called Amal, this follows the story of two girls Elin (popular in school but bored of small town life) and Agnes (depressed and no friends with a crush on Elin) It simply tells the story of small town life, popularity, sexual curiosity/ confusion and school days. It's pretty much as simple as that, but the whole story is brilliant worked out with the two main characters giving an outstanding and believable performance. But to be honest the whole cast do a sterling job of the whole film. A good love story for the coming of age...

Jonny5sk 10.10.2008 · Read review
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Review of Lukas Moodysson (Subtitled) (Box Set) (DVD)

Banja Luka - the city I'd like to like

Advantages: Some stunning buildings
Disadvantages: Hard to get to know locals, run down with few signs of regeneration

..."How did you find the people in Banja Luka?" asked a Slovenian friend of mine when we met up recently. We had just been to Bosnia and Herzegovina and had made a point of visiting both parts of the divided country. Under the terms of the Dayton Peace Accord in 1995 Bosnia and Herzegovina was divided into two territorial entities - the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska; the country has one government and people live under the same laws no matter which entity they live in but this symbolic division of the country more or less along ethnic lines is what keeps a fragile peace on the country. I knew Darko's family were Serbian but I didn't know they were Bosnian Serbs. Maybe I wouldn't have been so honest with my answer had I known this. I told him I found the people quite unfriendly though, admittedly, I hadn't had...

fizzytom 11.10.2009 · Read review
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Review of Banja Luka (Bosnia-Herzegovina)

Not one to watch with your parents!

Advantages: There is only one Lukas Moodysson,
Disadvantages: which is one too many for some.

...After watching three of Lukas Moodysson's earlier films, all of them totally different to each other, I had no idea what to expect from A Hole In My Heart. And having seen it I still don't really know what to make of it. By the time Moodysson made this movie in 2004 he had already achieved a huge degree of commercial success with "Together" (5*) and "Lilya 4-Ever" (5*). This allowed him the freedom to do whatever he wanted. Any project he chose to do now would receive all the funding it needed and would be guaranteed a wide audience. Fans of his earlier films were in for a real shock. The entire cast of this sprawling abstract drama consists of four characters and the story (if you can call it that) takes place almost entirely within the confines of a small flat that they share in a Stockholm suburb. Richard and his son Eric do...

MCFruitbat 10.10.2008 (08.05.2009) · Read review
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Review of A Hole In My Heart (Subtitled) (DVD)

Please contain me, let me stay...

Advantages: If you like a challenge, only 70 minutes long!!
Disadvantages: A little too experimental for me

...When considering whether to watch a film, I alter from wanting to know how it is generally perceived by others, alternatively I avoid finding out anything. I can get bothered by the preconception. Lukas Moodysson, the swedish director of the film Container, is someone I only became aware of after watching one of his earlier films, "Lilja 4-ever", recommended to me by a friend. A tragic, hard-hitting story that affected me in a way that only a select few films truly have done. I began to look at other films directed by the same man in the hope that I'd find some other cinematic gems. I now realise that it was at this point that my expectations had been raised too high. I find Container difficult to describe. There is no apparent plot, no real structure or sense of direction to the film. It is experimental in its approach...

tumblewheel 10.12.2008 · Read review
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Review of Container (DVD)

An actual young story in Amal

Advantages: Gripping.
Disadvantages: It is a bit unknown.

...Fucking Amal Director:Lukas Moodysson Writer:Lukas Moodysson Release Date:7 September 2001 (here in Spain) it was filmed in 1998 I think. Genre:Drama / Romance ---------------------------------- Some friends recomended me this film some months ago, the title was not very atractive for me, but everybody liked it so I decided to watch it in DVD. I don't use to see Swedish films, and it is not because I don't like them, they are cool, it is because I didn't know any Swedish film, and it was strange for me because all of them use to be American or Frenchs, Spanish, English... Plot The plot or argument is about a girl, Agnes, who is in her 16,secretly in love with a very beautiful girl... she wants to celebrate her birthday but she hasn't any friend in Amal, the new city she lives, her parents make a party...

CatGatita 22.12.2007 · Read review
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Review of Fucking Åmål (Show Me Love) DVD

The need for people to be fulfilled

Advantages: Good acting, decent screenplay, excellent images, film of substance
Disadvantages: Slightly detracting story, disorientating soundtrack

...overboard and present "shock-value" films to impress. Hold Back The Night manages to capture the right balance -realistic yet poignant. I still feel as if they took too long in the highlands but the movie still culminates in a satisfying ending without being too preachy. This is a story about difficult lives with very different goals. The character development in this film is excellent, although sometimes the music seems inappropriate. I would recommend this film to anybody who likes to watch underclass films like Kes and Small Faces. It has every bit the bleakness of a Lukas Moodysson film and yet it offers some sort of closure to problems, if not hope to the viewer. One thing is for sure -this is not a film for the Hitch and Miss Congeniality fans. Hey - for two or three quid off eBay, I'd choose Hold Back The Night any day. Thank you...

habitualdamnation 17.02.2006 · Read review
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Review of Hold Back The Night (DVD)

If you like shorts this is where to go.

Advantages: Everything about this DVD is an advantage!!!!
Disadvantages: Only if you don't like foreign cinema, and even then you should find something to like in these shorts!

.... This collection though contains a number of superb films, and I will try to cover them all, briefly, to give you an idea of what is on this disc and whom they are by. In order we have: ?Bara Prata Lite? (1997) by Lukas Moodysson, the director of Lilya 4-Ever and the feel good movie of this century ? Together (Tilsammens), is the tale of a middle-aged man who lives a very lonely life and just wants to talk to people. The actor, and possibly even the character, reappear in Together and this adds an extra relevance to this short if you have seen Together ?Le Batteur Du Boléro? (1992) by Patrice Leconte (The Girl On The Bridge, L?Homme Du Train) is a hilarious look at a drummer in an orchestra that is performing The Bolero. Bored at the monotony of his part in the performance his mind wanders! ?Charlotte Et Véronique? (1957) by...

Ailran 18.03.2005 · Read review
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Review of Cinema 16 - European Short Films (DVD)

The blight of Europe 2003

Advantages: An honest look at the East European Sex Trade
Disadvantages: Pretty Harrowing

...welfare department can offer no consolation even though she is only 16 years old. Lilya's mother is fixated solely on the chance of being part of this Capitalist paradise and sees Lilya only as an emcumbrance. May I just say that the performances of Oksana Akinshina (Lilya) and Artyom Bogucharsky (Volodya) are utterly beguiling. Both are students at the St Petersbury drama school and both played more than just the characters. They were the characters. Lukas Moodysson is a talented director whose previous two films (Show Me Love and Together) have highlighted his idiosyncratic talents. He induces just the right atmosphere here, the stream of trance-pop tracks capture the giddy-headedness of young youth yet the most affecting track is at the beginning and end of the film when Lilya battered and bruised looks like she is going to jump off...

blinderben 23.05.2003 (07.07.2003) · Read review
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Review of Lilya 4 Ever (Subtitled) (DVD)

Deeply realistic - a lesson for all.

Advantages: The most realistic portrayal of prostitution
Disadvantages: Will make you weep

...misery, but this one gets it spot on. I definitely recommend it, in fact I think it should be compulsory watching in order to educate people about the horrors of prostitution. Directed by: Lukas Moodysson Other films by this director: Together, Show me Love Cast: Oksana Akinshina .... Lilja Artyom Bogucharsky .... Volodya Lyubov Agapova .... Lilja's Mother Liliya Shinkaryova .... Aunt Anna Elina Benenson .... Natasha Pavel Ponomaryov .... Andrei Tomasz Neuman .... Witek (as Tomas Neumann) Anastasiya Bedredinova .... Neighbor Tõnu Kark .... Sergei Nikolai Bentsler .... Natasha's Boyfriend Aleksander Dorosjkevitch .... Friend #1 Yevgeni Gurov .... Friend #2 (as Jevgeni Gurov) Aleksandr Sokolenko .... Friend #3 Margo Kostelina .... Cashier #1 Veronika Kovtun .... Cashier #2 MPAA: Rated R for strong sexual...

sparklya 06.01.2006 (13.01.2006) · Read review
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Review of Lilya 4 Ever (Subtitled) (DVD)

One of the most touching films I've ever seen

Advantages: Warm, funny and uplifting
Disadvantages: None

..."Together" takes place in Stockholm in the year 1975, and depicts a mood that is in total contrast to Lukas Moodysson's later work, Lilya 4 Ever (which is also a fantastic movie, see my review). Here, hope reigns and people ultimately overcome their problems and look forward to a brighter future - in a way that is so profoundly touching that you could never blame it for being overly sentimental. The action is set in a commune where a host of unusual and intriguing characters try to make a life for themselves. The film opens with everyone in the commune celebrating the death of Franco, which sets the political tone of the movie. However, the politics does not feel like a message of the movie, it merely represents something the characters feel strongly about, albeit to varying degrees. Each character has their own story to tell, their...

sparklya 07.01.2006 · Read review
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Review of Together (Subtitled) (DVD)