Patrik, Age 1.5 (2008)

Best movie of this year hands down!

Please don't spend money on this.

Must See Movie...

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

I can't remember the last time I was so completely charmed and moved by a film. What an absolute delight, and a wonderful achievement from everyone involved.I'm very lucky because for my work I get to watch at least one or two films a day, but good lord, most of those films are tedious to watch all the way through even once - so it's very rare to encounter films that can be watched with pleasure over and over again. And I'm not talking about super-duper-once-in-a-lifetime films like Aliens that of course we can watch a million times, but films made on modest budgets by teams who obviously put their hearts and souls into making something beautiful and meaningful with limited resources.Patrik 1.5 is an unusual romantic comedy in that it's about the love relationship between fathers and sons - a (non-sexual) love story between a man (Goran) who desperately wants a son and a boy (Patrik) who desperately wants a father. It's also a love story between the audience and Goran, played absolutely perfectly by Gustaf Skarsgard - I cannot believe that even the grumpiest conservative could not fall in love with such a beautiful, kind, caring, vulnerable but brave person, and I think it's depictions of regular guy gay characters like this in films that will have more influence in bringing about change for the better than the most strident political hectoring. What the film recognises and depicts so beautifully is that in any father son relationship, the sons, even very young sons, understand that sometimes they have to look after their dads (or father figures) - that's what it means to be a man. Perhaps the reason the film provoked so many tears for me is because it made me realise all the love that my deceased father needed that I was not able to give him.Director Ella Lemhagen has done a fantastic job organising cast, crew and production staff to build a first rate film on a bargain budget. And of course that would not have been possible without the most crucial raw material, the complex and beautiful script by Michael Druker. The production design is superb, and the music, by Fredrik Emilson, is perfectly judged to enhance and colour the moments of poignancy and desperate unspoken longing.And Gustaf Skarsgard - what to say? How is he not the most famous and adored of the Skarsgard acting clan? Usually I don't have much respect for actor children of established stars, because you always feel they got a leg-up into an exciting job that we'd all love to do but don't have the chance. But I don't get the impression that Gustaf Skarsgard is an entitled movie brat - I think he really surrendered himself into this role and let down all his defences to give people a beautiful cinematic, and emotionally cathartic, experience - and that's not something that many actors are capable of, or willing, to do, whether they come from acting families or not.Anyway, for me this is one of those very rare films that scores 10 out of 10.

A film all based on qui pro quos. A gay married couple in Sweden comes into a new neighbourhood. Goran is a doctor and Sven is his husband. They were accepted for adoption but they were finally answered that no country in the world accepts to entrust a child for adoption to a homosexual couple. The deception is great but one day a letter arrives from social services. It contains a mistake and they are announced they will get a child of 1.5 years of age, Patrik is his name.Unluckily the kid that arrives is in fact 15, mother dead, father unknown, ten years in foster homes and institutions, a lot of delinquent acts, etc. Sven panics completely whereas Goran accepts the child, or rather teenager. Strangely enough Patrik is going to help Goran and Sven get accepted in the neighbourhood because he becomes the gardener of everyone, for money of course, and he becomes the skateboard coach of the kids in the street, etc.The end is a happy ending of course and it is not the real interest of the film. The real interest is to show that after and beyond all kinds of prejudices people deeply need at any age simple contact with others, contact that is called love and that it has nothing to do with sex really. Love is the food of angels and all children, and all people should be angels and get their ration, and even more that that everyday, of love.And it is so simple at times to find what can give someone the certainty they are loved, the guarantee they will be loved. Of course it is not simple and it cannot be easy to do but it is needed, provided people get out of their fears and fear is bigotry most of the time. We have no reason to be afraid of anything. To give a child one's own shirt for that child to look good when he needs to look good is more important than all the treasures of Arabia.That's the message of this film, and as such it works marvellously.Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

Patrik 1,5 – CATCH IT (B+) Patrick 1.5 is a Swedish movie about Goran and Sven have been cleared for adoption and they have a possibility to adopt a Swedish orphan, Patrik 1,5. But when Patrik arrives he turns out to be someone else, not the little boy they were expecting. A comma had been misplaced, and in comes a 15-year-old homophobic with a criminal past. Patrik 1.5 is hilarious and movie at the same times. it take cares the sensitive issue with humor and the whole family dimension makes this movie more endearing. Gustaf Skarsgård brother of Alexander Skarsgård & Torkel Petersson as couple are great. But I have to say Tom Ljungman steals the show with witty humor and hidden emotions underneath the callous attitude. I personally enjoyed the movie a lot, so if you're into a family dram with sarcastic humor. This one is for you. Loved it!

.....guy....this Goran....this Gustaf Skarsgard....this standout performer.Once you've seen this little film, you will realize it is this actor who is the heart and the soul of this story-with-a-twist. Here's a performer whose every thought is readable in his face.....whose every emotion makes its way across to us. And you know what is extra special about this? It's that no one can just "act" these things; these are things you have to "be"....within yourself. In other words, I think the Skarsgard we see on screen is the very same man off screen---and who of us wouldn't want a someone like that?And if Skarsgard is all of that, then it is Tom Ljungman, as Patrik, who is the zest and the vitality of this movie....the one who makes it all gel. Wherever Sweden was able to come up with such an accomplished SIXTEEN year old is beyond me. The only thing left to say about this young man is, "Gustaf Skarsgard, you'd better watch out; someone is hard on your heels."Oh, and I don't think any of us would kick a Torkel Petersson (Sven) out of....ahem...., either.Postscript for The Wonderful Director (Underbar Direktör): Dear Ella Lemhagen....The ONLY thing this most satisfied movie viewer could think of to change in this exceptional film would be the Closing Credits and its "Crosscountry Run." Of course, you know the place I mean (new viewers will have to see it for themselves). A full of Urin + Vinegar Patrik (Age 1.5) would be in the "leading lane".....followed closely by Daddy Goran.....then Papa Sven.....and bringing up the rear, daughter Isabell (who can even keep Patrik on his toes). ****