We Are the Best! (2013)

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

As "We Are The Best!" (2013 release from Sweden; 102 min.) opens, we are reminded that it is "Stockholm, 1982". We get to know Bobo, a 7th grader, and her friend Klara. Bobo believes she has the uncoolest mother ever, and Klara feels the same way about her own parents. One day they are at the rec center, and on a whim sign up to use the music rehearsal space. Never having played an instrument before, the girls nevertheless attack the drums and bass with vigor. They have so much fun, but need a guitarist. Fortunately, they meet Hedvig, an 8th grader, at a school recital, and promptly ask her to join the band. At this point we're maybe 15 min. or so into the movie. To tell you more would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.Couple of comments: first, this movie is so much more than just the girls forming a band. The movie looks at how 13 and 14 year olds fit in, or not, be it at home or at school. Later in the movie the girls are meeting up with the boys from another punk band. The girls think there's three boys (and they've already figured out who will pair up with who), but as it turns out, there's only 2 boys. Now what? Watch as we see the complex dynamics at play between the girls. Please note that, besides some (unnecessary) swear words, there is nothing inappropriate in the movie, and in fact we see the girls having a lot of fun, being the goofy-dorky-fun loving kids that they are, with mischief and a twinkle in their eyes and a lot of innocence about them. There are several laugh-out-loud scenes that are outright hilarious. Second, I can only assume that the makers of this film did a lot of research on what the punk scene in Sweden was like in those days, as we do get a fair amount of Swedish punk songs on the side. Last but not least, the no-names cast is brilliant, in particular the girls playing Bobo, Klara and Hedvig. My hat off to them! "We Are The Best!" had a brief theatrical run in the US last year, and in fact I had seen the trailer for it at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati. Somehow I ended missing it when it played here ever so briefly. So glad that I finally caught up with this on DVD. If you are in the mood for a fun but top-notch foreign movie that looks at youth in a refreshing way, you cannot go wrong with this. "We Are The Best!" is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

It's been a while since i saw a Moodysson film. You forget just how effortless he makes film-making seem, but then you only have to watch almost any other movie with actors these ages to realise what a feat this is. If anything, the actors here are too young for their characters (unsusual!) - there was a scene near the end where the two leads are fighting that was hard to take seriously, and more seriously, the actress playing Bobo looked a little lost here as well! It lacks the depth or profundity of some of his earlier work, such as Show Me Love. That was 16 years ago, i remember it so clearly! Will I be thinking about this one for days after? i don't think so. Does Moodysson not make darker films any more? That's a shame, but for what this is, a light comedy suitable for all, plus a gentle homage to Sweden in the early 80s, it succeeds brilliantly. He's a little bit like the American John Hughes at showing a child's POV without being patronising, but unlike Hughes also without painting the adults in two dimensions. I'm hoping he'll make more films like this, maybe a bit longer and less afraid of upsetting the audience (that doesn't mean they all have to be like Lilya 4-ever either,there's a balance somewhere!). I'm being picky because i'm a fan - highly recommended and needs wider exposure like all of his films.

Scandinavian filmmakers seem to have mastered the art of telling serious stories with just the right amount of humour and whimsy to prevent their films from becoming bogged down in earnestness. Of course, we can't apply such a sweeping generalisation to every filmmaker from the Nordic regions, but there certainly has been a series of such films in recent years (Simple Simon, The Liverpool Goalie) that have been as amusing as much as they have been insightful. Furthermore, several Scandinavian films of recent times – from Lilya 4 Ever to Turn Me On, Dammit to Let the Right One In and many more besides – have placed young characters front and centre of the narrative, often relying on hitherto unknown actors to carry the film, usually with surprisingly effective results. With We are The Best, Swedish director Lukas Moodysson (F***king Amal and the aforementioned Lilya 4 Ever) continues such traditions in presenting a bittersweet comedy that manages to effectively assay the trials and tribulations of teenage life in Stockholm in the early '80's.13-year-old Klara (Mira Grosin) is desperate to be a rebel, even if she has no idea what she might be rebelling against. She shares a love of punk music with her best friend BoBo (Mira Barkhammar), a fellow outcast amongst the cliques and social factions of their high school. The girls are all but inseparable and, initially in an effort to spite a group of older boys at the local youth club, they decide to start a band, even though neither of them can play an instrument. Their initial attempts to write a song are farcical and they soon recruit Hedwig (Liv Lemoyne), a quiet Christian girl who just happens to possess considerable skill as a guitar player. There is a great naturalness to these characters as they react and interact with each other and the various other people in their periphery, such as their parents and two well-meaning but utterly clueless supervisors from the youth centre. The girls know that they don't really fit in with the other kids, but they are yet to find their own place in the world. The characters seem very real; laden with the uncertainty and the search for identity that we all experience at that time in our lives. Klara's tough exterior masks her inner vulnerabilities and insecurities, while BoBo is all but invisible to everybody except her best friend. At one point Bobo's mother is so focused on entertaining a potential new boyfriend that she is completely oblivious to the fact that her daughter isn't home; it is only a phone call from BoBo that alerts her to the fact. For Hedwig, meanwhile, these new friendships lead her to question the values and ideologies – instilled by her pious mother – that have thus far shaped her life.Whilst the film looks a little rough around the edges at times and there are moments that, in the hands of Harvey Weinstein, would have been lost in the edit, it seems a deliberate ploy by Moodysson to linger on the awkward silences and seemingly banal conversations to reflect the everyday-ness of this world in which these girls exist. Much of the humour comes from Klara's attempts to find an outlet for her anger through song. The problem is that she doesn't really have anything to be angry about, or much of a talent for song writing, so it is the school PE teacher becomes the target of her 'fury'. Despite only having one song in their arsenal – Hate the Sport – the girls are given an opportunity to perform at a local band showcase, an appearance that brings the film to a chaotic and downright hilarious end; a climax that is as surprising as it is perfect for these three clueless but utterly endearing wannabe rebels.As you might expect from a story revolving around three teenage girls, experiments with alcohol and the pursuit of boys form part of the story and Moodyson elicits spirited, engaging performances from his three inexperienced young leads. Whilst the film is certainly not a celebration of punk music as an intellectual exercise – epitomised by the song Brezhnev and Reagan, F**k Off that is performed by the all-male band with whom the girls develop a relationship – We Are the Best most certainly posits the appeal of punk as an outlet for those who don't fit in anywhere else. Delivered with a warm-hearted vitality, We Are the Best is, first and foremost, a joyous, vibrant celebration of adolescent female friendship.

I can't recall the last time I saw such an awesome movie about punk rock.There's nothing like being a preteen like Bobo, who comes from a single parent home and dislikes her parents and takes comfort by getting into punk rock. What makes her situation better is finding a rebellious preteen like Klara who has similar interest in punk rock and disliking her parents (who are actually really cool but understandingly embarrassing from a 12 year old's point of view.) And when the two "weird kids" in school find each other, they find the best way to express their uniqueness in Stockholm 1982...by starting a punk rock band. They didn't own their own instruments or even know how to play anything, and no matter what the boys who thought their Motorhead rip off band, Iron fist said about them they got the job done, and kept punk alive when it was "dying". Adding to their mixed a talented guitar player in Hedvig, they tell the tale of possibly every great band's origin.What I love most about the movie is the binding friendship of the girls. Like when bass player and vocals Klara had a problem with Guitar player, Hedvig's Christian upbringing or when drummer Bobo and Klara are face with a "Bros before hos" situation. They stand together, even when everyone thinks they suck, they stand together. A lesson most bands should take into consideration. This movie kicks-ass on some many levels. It's for everyone who loves the spirit of punk rock. We are the Best!!!